Pompeii Site Installs ‘Invisible’ Solar Panels Resembling Roman Tiles

The ancient ruins of Pompeii are an invaluable historical and cultural treasure that has long been studied and admired by scholars, tourists, and everyday people alike. With millions of visitors each year, the site’s preservation and maintenance is an ongoing challenge that requires creative solutions. Recently, the archaeological park of Pompeii has come up with an innovative solution to reduce its energy consumption and costs by installing invisible solar panels on some of its ancient buildings.

The panels, which were created by the Italian company Dyaqua, are designed to imitate traditional materials like terracotta tiles, stone, wood, concrete, or brick so that they blend seamlessly into the background. As a result, visitors to the site won’t even notice that they are there. Yet, they will provide the electricity needed to light up the ruins, without detracting from the ancient structures’ aesthetic appeal.

The House of Cerere, a thermopolium (a Roman snack bar), and the House of the Vettii, which reopened following 20 years of restoration work, were among the first ancient buildings to receive these invisible solar panels. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the archaeological park of Pompeii, notes that the panels look “exactly like the terracotta tiles used by the Romans, but they produce the electricity that we need to light the frescoes.”

The use of solar panels is essential for Pompeii because it receives over three million tourists annually, making it a massive consumer of energy. Traditional methods of providing power across the site can be expensive, and the cables and poles required to transport energy can compromise the site’s appearance. By using solar panels, the archaeological park of Pompeii can cut energy bills and make it more enjoyable for tourists.

According to Zuchtriegel, the use of invisible solar panels at Pompeii is not merely symbolic but represents a real-life lab for sustainability and the valorisation of intangible heritage. The initiative sends a message to the world that cultural heritage can be managed differently and in a more sustainable way. The recent installation of these panels is just the beginning, and the park’s officials plan to use this technology in all future renovation and restoration projects.

Invisible solar panels are gaining popularity around the world due to their many benefits. In addition to the ones mentioned earlier, other locations that use or plan to use this technology include the commune of Vicoforte in Italy, Maxxi – the National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome, and the cities of Evora in Portugal and Split in Croatia. As more sites embrace this technology, it could become the new standard for preserving cultural and historical landmarks while also protecting the environment.