To Renewable Energy World : “ Last week, researchers announced they had produced the largest see-through organic solar module to date — a 170 square centimeter functioning module that is 14 times larger than the last iteration.”
” The technology was produced through a collaboration with researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the organic solar company New Energy Technologies.”
This is exciting, but we shouldn’t get our hopes to high as for the moment, these solar panels have a low efficiency of only four to five percent.
The articles goes on :
Organic solar technologies — often called plastic solar — utilize conductive polymers that allow for flexible cells and modules. Researchers are applying these unique polymers onto a see-through substrate that can be applied to glass:
(…) But we need to be extraordinarily cautious when evaluating the commercial viability of this technology.
Unlike traditional solar, commercial organic solar devices have very low efficiencies (4 to 5%) and a lifetime of a few years, currently hindering their market opportunities.
Anyway, even if it is in ten or twenty years time, see-through solar would be a fantastic idea for the buildings and vehicles of tomorrow. (via CleanTechies)