New Technologies Inc. has recently overcome their struggle to commercialize their latest innovative product, the SolarWindow. The transparent organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar panel is the largest of its kind that is produced at the United States Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The 170x170cm2 solar panels are 14 times the size of any other transparent panel made by NREL and much larger than the 30x30cm models made in 2011 and the 4×4 inch of 2010. This size is important as OPV panels have far lower sunlight-to-energy efficiency conversion rates than silicon-based PV modules.
The device is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and can be used as an alternative to glass in both residential and commercial buildings, greatly multiplying the solar potential of the system.
“We believe that building integrated applications provide a promising avenue for OPV deployment and we are continuing to work with New Energy Technologies to further address scale-up, a key milestone toward developing a deployable technology,” says NREL scientist Dr David S. Ginley.
OPV panels are produced by coating a surface with organically synthesised polymers that generate electricity from sunlight. New Energy announced recently that researchers had investigated and made use of a high-speed/large-area solution-coating process, which allows for rapid scale-up to larger glass surface areas.
The new technology of the SolarWindow is currently under ten new patent filings as New Energy fights for the potential customers that are the estimated 85 million commercial and residential buildings in the USA.
By Australian Solar Quotes
