Vertical Solar Solutions with Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti
Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, an assistant research scientist in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, installs a dozen new solar-powered lights for the walkway just east of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning East Wing on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Tuesday afternoon, October 10, 2023.
Akhavan-Tafti is the founder of Adaptable Powerful Transformative (APT) Solar Solutions whose mission is to unlock the power of the Sun by revolutionizing solar electricity generation and distribution. These patented lights, developed at the University of Michigan, gather solar energy in a vertically aligned configuration. In the future, his goal is to create “solar forests” with this vertical format along unutilized urban spaces, like highways, where there is no need to purchase real estate, rather than the current model of “solar farms” that require large swaths of land that could be used in other ways. In 2022, Akhavan-Tafti gave a talk at AnnArborSPARK and said that for the first time solar power is beginning to compete with coal and other fossil fuels. He also said if these vertical solar modules could be installed along Interstate 94, they could gather enough energy to power the city of Ann Arbor.
Photo: Brenda Ahearn/University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Communications and Marketing
Vertical Solar Solutions with Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti
Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, an assistant research scientist in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, installs a dozen new solar-powered lights for the walkway just east of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning East Wing on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Tuesday afternoon, October 10, 2023.
Akhavan-Tafti is the founder of Adaptable Powerful Transformative (APT) Solar Solutions whose mission is to unlock the power of the Sun by revolutionizing solar electricity generation and distribution. These patented lights, developed at the University of Michigan, gather solar energy in a vertically aligned configuration. In the future, his goal is to create “solar forests” with this vertical format along unutilized urban spaces, like highways, where there is no need to purchase real estate, rather than the current model of “solar farms” that require large swaths of land that could be used in other ways. In 2022, Akhavan-Tafti gave a talk at AnnArborSPARK and said that for the first time solar power is beginning to compete with coal and other fossil fuels. He also said if these vertical solar modules could be installed along Interstate 94, they could gather enough energy to power the city of Ann Arbor.
Photo: Brenda Ahearn/University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Communications and Marketing