Transparent solar panel fenestration
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Has anybody seen the windows made from solar panels you can see through? I sure would like those for windows on the west side of my house here in Arizona.
I could probably even do it without Home Owner Association (HOA) approval. We had problems here with HOAs turning down solar installations and the home owners went to court. National solar policy trumped HOA authority.
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I do not know any commercial products but some manufacturers were working on them several years ago. The two technologies used I recalled are:
- dye PV. A Swiss spin off of EPFL was working on it. I have seen several submissions for funds at the EU level.
- thin film deposite micro-punched. It was from one Japanese firm (maybe Sharp).
This last approach is not far from using a solar protection as PV. And there, there're several existing products. Of course the PV cells with gaps between each of them. This is used in a lot of projects. You also have flexible PV used as fabric for awning for example.
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Roger
Heres a few manufacturers of thin film Photo Voltaics. I've been keeping an eye on this technology, which can significantly reduce the cost per watt of PV. It's not quite mainstream yet, but I've seen it on a building at the B.C Institute of Technology and had a few emails with their facilities manager, who is quite happy with the system. Let me know how it goes.SIEMENS
Tel.: 1-800-SIEMENS
Tel.: 1-800-743-6367* email.us@siemens.comEnergy Conversion Devices Inc (ECD Ovonics) 2956 Waterview Drive Rochester Hills, MI 48309, USA Tel: 1 248 293 0440
Fax: 1 313 844 1214
E Mail: investor.relations@ovonic.com Amorphous silicon thin filmEnergy Photovoltaics Inc (EPV) 276 Bakers Basin Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA Tel: 1 609 587 3000
Fax: 1 609 587 5355
E Mail: sales@epv.net Amorphous silicon and copper indium diselenide thin filmFormosun Solar Corporation 35, Kuang Fu North Road Hsinchu Industrial Park, Hsinchu County Taiwan 30351 Republic of China Tel: 886 3 696 89
Fax: 886 3 696 38
E Mail: sales@formosun.com Thin film manufacturerFree Energy Europe 2, Rue Leon Droux, BP 66, 62302 Lens, Cedex, France Tel: 33 03 21 79 30 60
Fax: 33 03 21 43 65 88
E mail: free.energy@wandadoo.fr Amorphous silicon thin filmBP Solar 630 Solarex Court Frederick, Maryland 21703, USA Tel: 1 301 698 4200
Fax: 1 410 981 0278
E Mail: Monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon
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