COLUMBIA, MD.—New Energy Technologies, Inc. announced that researchers have successfully developed a first-generation 12″ x 12″ working prototype of the company’s SolarWindow technology, capable of generating electricity on see-thru glass.
Compared with its 4″ x 4″ predecessor, unveiled in September 2010, the debut marks a significant achievement for the company as it continues to work towards producing a commercially marketable product.
The new prototype marks a 300 percent increase in size over its predecessor, and is the first-ever working SolarWindow of its dimension. Researchers fabricated this prototype using New Energy’s patent-pending process for “spraying” the company’s electricity-generating coatings directly onto glass, eliminating expensive and often cumbersome high-temperature or high-vacuum production methods typically used by current solar manufacturers.
Step Closer to Actual Production
“This important milestone event brings our SolarWindow technology yet another step closer to the residential and commercial end-user,” said John Conklin, president and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc. “We continue to pursue an aggressive product development program, working to improve, among other things, solar cell efficiency, power output, durability, manufacturability, and further scale-up.”
The company’s latest accomplishment follows on the heels of several important business and scientific achievements, including:
• Obtaining exclusive worldwide commercial license to numerous patent filings and inventions important to achieving transparency and ease of manufacturing of SolarWindow;
• Third-party validation of the company’s power production output model, necessary for providing potential customers with a performance and economic model for calculating cost savings associated with the application of SolarWindow to building facades;
• Development of new SolarWindow materials, which could lead to improved efficiency, lower production costs and enhanced future commercial manufacturability;
• Development of numerous compounds, processes, and applications which allow for New Energy’s electricity-generating coatings to remain see-thru, and be applied by spray; and
• Bolstering of the company’s management team and Scientific Advisory Board.
There are nearly 5 million commercial buildings in America, according to the Energy Information Administration, and more than 80 million single detached homes. New Energy’s SolarWindow technology is under development for commercial application in such buildings.
Go to New Energy Technologies.
