Transparent solar technology hopeful Ubiquitous Energy has found a glass manufacturer to partner with on new product. Global glass manufacturer NSG Group has entered a joint development agreement with Ubiquitous Energy to develop, manufacture and integrate Ubiquitous’s ClearView Power technology into architectural window glass. NSG’s participation includes ongoing R&D and technical support.
Ubiquitous Energy’s first commercial window demonstration, released in January 2019
Ubiquitous Energy’s transparent solar coating, ClearView Power, absorbs and converts non-visible light (ultraviolet and infrared) to electricity while transmitting visible light. The transparent solar coating can be applied directly to architectural windows during the standard glass manufacturing process, allowing buildings to generate their own onsite renewable energy as part of the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) market. Additionally, ClearView Power claims to block infrared solar heat, improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which in combination with energy generation can lead to zero net energy buildings and beyond.
“Having worked with Ubiquitous Energy for some time now, we have been impressed with ClearView Power’s differentiation amongst BIPV products and in particular its proven ability to meet the aesthetic demands of mass market glazing products that are acceptable to architects, designers and occupants,” said Stephen Weidner, NSG VP of sales and marketing for architectural and technical glass products. “We have witnessed first-hand the company’s steady progress towards commercialization and we look forward to working together closely with Ubiquitous to bring this technology to the market.”
Ubiquitous Energy released news earlier this year that its transparent solar cells reached 9.8% power conversion efficiency. The cells have an average visible transparency of 38.3%. The company has been going after the architectural window market since glass in this area is traditionally “30% to 80% transparent.”
“As we continue to build our ecosystem of partnerships across the glass industry, we are thrilled to work with NSG to help bring ClearView Power to market as part of the more than 9 billion sq. m per year of annual global glass production,” said Ubiquitous Energy CEO Keith Wilson. “NSG brings a wealth of unique knowledge to our development efforts as a global leader in advanced architectural window glass products that also has experience bringing BIPV products to market. We have hit a number of key milestones together over the past year and are excited to publicly announce this partnership.”
It would be fascinating if the tech could be retro-fitted as a coating or covering to existing building exteriors; especially glass office buildings.
I don’t see much value in this product for my own use. We built our New England house facing directly south. We use large overhangs to keep the sun out during the summer months. We used Low E 180 glass which tends to pass UV onto the concrete floors through large expanses of glass facing south. This keeps our heating bills very reasonable. We also are on a larger lot with plenty of room for PV arrays. We presently have about 4kW worth of panels which provides enough energy to run our home including AC for our bedroom. The fact that this glass does not pass IR and is not so efficient creating electricity leads me to think it would not be any advantage for my own installation. It may be better for others, but I am not tooimpressed.
Interesting, in the more sunny climates of the U.S. one could actually get an average of 1kWh of solar PV generation by replacing the front, back and side glass of one’s car with this product. Depending on just how much ultraviolet the product absorbs, as stated in the article, it could also be a blue ray blocker to help keep one’s interior from disintegration over years of use.
Do not fight with the sun, use it to power your world.