Transparent solar films will enable tinted windows to generate electricity

 
Transparent solar films will enable building glass to become energy harvesters that smoothly integrate into a building’s design

Heliatek GmbH, a technology leader in the field of organic photovoltaics, has announced that its transparent solar films could be used to be integrated between the glass sheets of double glazed windows. These windows would look like tinted glass as the vapour deposition technology for the solar films allows for a homogeneous coating of the solar layer without distracting patterns or irregularities.

According to Heliatek the transparency level as well as the colour can be tuned to suit the customers’ requirements. Measurements by SGS, an accredited and independent testing facility, have confirmed that the lab cells still offer an efficiency of 7 % at a light transmission level of 23.5 %. Currently, the company can produce a transparency level of up to 40 % in its laboratories in Dresden, Germany, and sees the possibility to increase this to 50 % when the transparent solar films will be supplied to the building industry with the launch of the next production line in 2014. Heliatek is currently working with glass and other building material manufacturers to include its solar film technology in their products.

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