Konarka Technologies and Arch Aluminum and Glass Set Up Pilot Project to Test Transparent Solar Glass

Konarka Technologies and Arch Aluminum & Glass Co. have announced they are designing a pilot project to test and further develop transparent, coloured solar glass.

The pilot project will integrate Konarka's Power Plastic into a wall structure at Arch Aluminum & Glass' office building in Tamarac, Florida.  The see-through Power Plastic will be put on a variety of glass and window configurations.  Arch's curtain wall will then be an array of glass and aluminum solar panels, which will be subjected to a wide range of environmental and insulation conditions.

Each solar panel will have a peak output of 40 watts, and collectively the wall curtain at Arch's facility will have an output of 1.5 kilowatts.  Konarka and Arch will not only analyze the data from the pilot wall curtain, but they will also share it with architects and building developers.

As Max Perilstein, Arch's vice president of marketing, points out, solar glass is a novel and practical technology:  "integrating 'active solar glass' into a wall structure allows us to make use of a typical manufacturing building by giving it the ability to generate its own energy."

Read the full story at Konarka Technologies:  Konarka and Arch Aluminum & Glass Announce Unique Solar Curtain Wall Pilot Project