A research team in Michigan State University has developed solar electric generators from ordinary glass surfaces. Richard Lunt, head of the research team and professor at the University, says that the solar panel that they have developed has many potential applications.
Based on the research findings of Lunt’s team, the transparent solar panel can be used on tall buildings with many windows, or any type of mobile device that requires high aesthetic properties such as a phone or e-reader.
The transparent solar electric generators are capable of capturing solar radiance in the non-visible spectrum, particularly ultraviolet wavelengths.
Solar electric generators technology development
Once these UV wavelengths are captured, the solar panel then converts the light into another colorless infrared wavelength and sends them to the edge of the concentrator, after which photovoltaic solar cells convert them into electricity.
The solar electric generators research is still in its early stages and the transparent luminescent concentrators or TLSC, as the device is called, is performing at about 1 per cent efficiency. However, the MSU research team thinks that it can be optimized to approximately 5 per cent.
At present, the best efficiency that non-transparent luminescent concentrators can achieve is around 7 per cent.
This innovative technology offers a lot of potential to ordinary glass surfaces. It can turn them into functional transparent solar panels. Therefore, structural elements such as windows, or even the glass protective covers of smartphones can be transformed into solar electric generators.
Technology holds untapped potential for future application
In a related development, several companies are also tinkering on this concept of turning ordinary glass surfaces into solar electric generators. This time, it is the idea of transparent solar technology that will be embedded in glass and installed as windows in buildings.
One of the proponents of this technology is Oxford Photovoltaics, the CEO of which says the windows that are created using this technology can operate without direct sunlight.
But the manufacturing process of this particular solar technology is still in its infancy. Therefore, the efficiency of the solar panels produced is nowhere near the efficiencies of solar panels sold in the market.
Still some time until transparent solar technology is cost effective and efficient
With regards to its cost, these types of solar panels are very expensive. This is only natural because this technology is still in its development stage. But once its efficiency improves, and its manufacturing process is perfected, the cost per unit will surely go down.
At present, the figures for this technology are not really very encouraging. For instance, a $1,000 investment in these products returns 22,000 kilowatt-hour or approximately $45 per kilowatt-hour.
Currently, an average household pays PG&E from $0.16 to $0.18 per kilowatt-hour. But if the efficiency of solar electric generators can rise up to the level of conventional solar panels and their payback period is lowered to 10 years or less, they will be a wiser alternative.
Regardless, Oxford’s CEO is bullish about its market potential since its applicability in the United States alone is incredibly huge. The fact that his solar panels can also work without direct sunlight is another plus factor.
