Just a few weeks ago we were speaking about Ubiquitous Energy and transparent solar panels. However, they aren’t the only ones pushing capital into the development of building integrated solar panels.
From solar roadways to solar roofs to transparent solar panels – it seems that the market continues to push forward on the concept of “how can we integrate solar into EVERYTHING”.
And it is a noble and fair focus. The more integrated energy the faster we move towards a truly decentralized energy grid – which is a lot more challenging than even the publications make it seem – more on that in coming weeks.
This week we are taking a look at a different transparent solar company which to date has raised $9M and brings a new method of solar energy harvesting through windows – with a 3.3% efficiency rating – ClearVue PV. ClearVue uses a spectrally selective polyvinyl butyral interlayer sandwiched between two panes of glass in order to drive Infrared Light and UltraViolet to CIGS solar cells they embed within the frame of the window. They currently have an MOU in place with BeyondPV – the tiwanese PV manufacturer.
However, this space of transparent or building integrated solar is one that is challenging to break into. Especially when you are dealing with builders & construction companies that are highly dependent on strong track records before piloting any technology. Construction & Real Estate tend to always be slow in adoption in general.
ClearVue seems to bring an interesting hybrid solution that might apply better in the building energy efficiency realm more than Ubiquitous does. The reason being price & scalability. Fundamentally, companies like View provide similar energy efficiency benefits to what a window integrated solar system can provide. A partnership between View & ClearVue however could prove to be the perfect marriage if the economics and terms can be worked out for both parties.