A window into solar

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is part of a consortium that is developing building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) devices designed to enable windows of the future to not only generate their own solar power but also provide greater thermal control. The Innovate UK funded project entitled ‘Power Generating & Energy Saving Windows’ includes CPI alongside materials supplier Merck and leading BIPV producer Polysolar.

The commercialisation of such a device will reduce building energy costs whilst offering architects greater freedom in structural design. The use of OPV is attractive for a number of sectors because it is adaptable, lightweight, transparent and low-cost.

“The output of the project will be to produce large-scale organic photovoltaic devices using sustainable, low-cost manufacturing processes. Once concluded, the project will provide the industry with the required lifetimes, dimensions and price points needed to evaluate how to take this emerging technology to market,” Dave Barwick, Principal Scientist at CPI noted.