The company is developing transparent coatings for glass and clear plastics which can generate electricity.
Main aim of the agreement is to commercialize the SolarWindow products.
SolarWindow coatings can generate electricity on see-through glass and flexible plastics with colored tints of skyscraper glass, which can turn buildings to power generators.
NREL, which is recognized as one of the world’s leading solar photovoltaic research institutions has collaborated with Solar Window in developing transparent window coatings that can generate electricity.
Commercially, the aim is to target tall commercial buildings and skyscrapers in metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities, where these buildings consume about 40%of the total energy produced in the US.
According to the terms of the agreement, NREL and Solar Window will continue to work together to enhance product performance, increase scale, improve reliability and develop and incorporate new features and to obtain performance certifications required for commercial roll out.
Additionally, the team will also focus on developing product-specific goals for Solar Window which include large scale window fabrication, developing easy plug-n-play onsite installation, performance metrics and modeling when installed in various building types and geographies.
NREL, Thin Film and Processing Group within the National Center for Photovoltaics, senior scientist, Dr. Maikel van Hest said: "The prospect of skyscrapers generating electricity from see-through window products is very exciting."
"Through our CRADA, we have been able to develop and test this technology using some of the world’s most advanced state of the art equipment.
"As a result, SolarWindow and NREL have advanced the technology by enhancing scale, efficiency and reliability."
According to the company’s independent validation, this new technology can provide up to 50 times greater energy than rooftop solar panels, when modeled for a 50-storey building.
