Are transparent solar panels the future.
By: Randomly Useful
Tags: Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Green Energy

Are transparent solar panels the future.

This new technology wants to upend the way we power the society by harvesting solar energy from the windows on your home, the windscreen of your car and even from the screen of your smartphone. Transparent solar panels offer a clear solution to the problem problem of where to put new photovoltaic cells.

The plan is architects going forward can simply coat the next generation of skyscrapers with high-tech panes of the groovy generative glass.

Can it really be that simple?

Hang on a second, you’re probably thinking. A window’s job is to let light pass through it, right? But how can it do that and simultaneously harvest our sun’s bountiful energy?

Well, there’s a lot more to sunlight than the parts you and I can see. Indeed, the so-called visible spectrum of light is a comparatively small subset of all electromagnetic frequencies. Transparent solar cells typically rely on devices known as transparent luminescent solar concentrators or TLSC.

Photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash

TLSCs are composed of clever organic salts which absorb invisible portions of natural light — infra-red and ultraviolet, basically. These salts proceed to ‘glow’, in a manner of speaking, and this glow powers narrow photovoltaic strips which are discreetly situated at the very edge of the windowpane. The resulting power is then converted into electricity and fed into the local building or grid.

These nifty see-through cells are capable of operating at an efficiency of around 10%, which is roughly half that of a regular opaque solar cell. And even though that might sound, a bit rubbish, researches are at pains to point out what matters with transparent solar isn’t the efficiency but instead the potential scale for deployment.

Right now, experts reckon, the USA alone has between five and seven billion square meters of glass. One-tenth of that is still a pretty big deal- capable according to some estimates, of meeting 40% of the nation’s annual energy requirements.

And okay, fair enough, its not as if every single existing window is about to get retrofitted to work with see-through solar. But when you remember some two-and-a-half billion square meters of new architectural glasses is installed on office blocks and shopfronts around the world each and every year, the potential for growth in this sector is crystal clear.

Several startups across the globe are vying for a slice of this new-minded industry. Ubiquitous energy, which began life as an academic project at MIT, has received millions of dollars in grants from the California Energy Commission for its patented UE power technology. By scooping up power in the infra-red spectrum, Ubiquitous’s solar coating can not only generate electricity but can help block solar heat and save air-conditioning costs, paving the way for the dream of net-zero buildings.

The firm has already partnered with leading glass manufacturer NSG Group, who were so impresses with the technology on display, they installed it in the lobby of their own headquarters in Northwood, Ohio.

Photo by Freddie Martyn on Unsplash

ClearVue, a soar company based in western Australia, uses a slightly different technique. Its transparent luminescent solar concentrator takes the the form of a spectrally selective polyvinyl butyral interlayer sandwiched between two panes of glass.

Infra-red light is still transmitted to photovoltaic cells in the frame, the only difference is it isn’t a coating on the exterior. So far ClearVue’s tech has been successfully installed in the glass atrium of a suburban Perth shopping mall.

Solar Gaps, a European team, take a slightly different track too, installing solar blinds inside or just outside of the office windows. The great advantage of blinds is they can be mechanically oriented to make the most of whatever sunlight is around. And for every square meter installed they claimed they can give 100 watts of power or roughly enough power to power three laptops.

Photo by CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash

The most innovative use of clear solar is on, of all places, a Swiss strawberry farm. A new four-year pilot project has replaced plastic poly tunnels commonly used in agriculture with a bank of THEIA’s, or Translucency and High Efficiency in Agrivoltaics. These panels not only hoover up vital photons for power generation but can alter the extent of their tint to optimise the level of light getting through the precious plants inside. This should, if it works at least, help those delicious crops photosynthesise and produce better yields, crucially using the same land footprint.

One particularly intriguing potential day-to-day application of this technology is in smartphone screens. A team led by Professor Joondong Kim at South Korea’s Incheon National University has demonstrated that their tech, harnessing a clever blend of titanium dioxide and nickel oxide, could create power at phone-sized scales. Maybe not enough for a full charge for a full charge, for now at least, but sufficient for a helpful battery boost in the middle of a busy working day.

Photo by Daoudi Aissa on Unsplash

Transparent solar is not without its critics, many of whom claim the technology has been supposedly forthcoming for the better part of two decades now with precious little commercial success. Such skepticism is healthy, so as long as regulators and investors are well-informed enough to spot doggy transparent solar projects and see right through them if you will.

It’s pretty unlikely to be a panacea for the energy crisis, let’s say. But working alongside other clean energy sources, transparent solar could help drive out towns and cities towards carbon neutrality without sacrificing the all-important aesthetics of 21st-century architecture.