Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi) is a technical university, specializing in engineering, architecture, and industrial design. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainability, PoliMi actively collaborates with industry and academia to drive technological advancements. In the CIRCMAN5.0 project, PoliMi is responsible for conducting an in-depth literature review and state-of-the-art analysis, identifying best practices in sustainable manufacturing, digitalization and circular economy principles. By integrating AI-driven tools, Cognitive Digital Twins, IoT and Blockchain, PoliMi is refining frameworks such as the Sustainable Product Index (SPI) to assess circularity across PV production processes. Furthermore, its role involves multi-domain gap analysis, comparing current industry practices with cutting-edge sustainability approaches to identify key opportunities for improvement.
Politecnico di Milano has also spearheaded an independent project called SOTTILE (SOlar Technological TILE).
Among renewable energy generation technologies, photovoltaics has a pivotal role in reaching the EU’s decarbonization goals. In particular, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems are attracting increasing interest since they are a fundamental element that allows buildings to abate their CO 2 emissions while also performing functions typical of traditional building components, such as sealing against water. However traditional PV
systems often face challenges related to aesthetics, efficiency, and integration with architectural design. In such respect, a novel PV component specifically tailored for building integration, has been developed within PoliMi named SOTTILE (SOlar Technological TILE). This component addresses not only technical performance but also aesthetic appeal, cost-effectiveness, and ease of installation.
SOTTILE is a complete system, consisting of modular elements according to the desired geometry and dimensions and specially designed for installation on pitched roofs, in combination with virtually any type of tile. It can be used in place of clay roofing, also exclusively in the portions intended for the solar system, while the remaining portions of the roof can be covered with traditional elements. Each element of SOTTILE consists of 4 singular modular supports made of recycled plastic, on which the photovoltaic laminate with crystalline silicon cells, is connected. The entire system and its sub-components are designed to be quickly assembled and disassembled, greatly facilitating installation, maintenance and decommissioning practices.
The colour of the modular support, along with the photovoltaic laminate, has been carefully optimized to strike a balance between integration into the surrounding environment and enhanced
performance.
The component has been installed in some real buildings. One of the most significant applications is the tertiary historical building in Milan (Italy)
belonging to Politecnico di Milano, where 12.8 kWp has been installed.
As can be noticed, the color laminate allows to achieve the perfect chromatic
integration, without excessively penalizing performance. Such historical buildings for which the installation had to obtain permission from the local
superintendent; thus, the obtained result can be considered particularly relevant.