NEXT Energy Technologies, which has a transparent photovoltaic window coating that generates electricity, announced that it has installed the system on 22 windows at Patagonia's headquarters on the south-facing facade of the Olive building on the company's main campus
The building houses offices, an employee gym, and a rock-climbing wall. The generating capacity is enough to let employees charge portable devices while using the facilities.
Solar power is a way that commercial real estate properties can help the planet, sure, but also improve their ESG standing while saving some money. For existing buildings, that has generally meant mounting photovoltaic cells, which convert light from the sun into electricity, on a roof or maybe in an adjoining field.
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Capturing electricity from windows isn't likely to directly replace full solar installations but it does provide some power, and energy planning for a building as part of an ESG strategy will likely involve multiple techniques to generate and conserve energy.
The system uses transparent photovoltaic coatings printed onto architectural glass. Another layer of glass is used to seal the coating and protect it from the elements. The glass sandwich then goes into a traditional glazing system with the addition of cables to transmit the power.
"NEXT estimates that its windows are capable of producing 20-30% of the power produced by conventional solar panels alone," a company press release claims. "However, by leveraging the underutilized surface area of the building facade, as opposed to isolated rooftops, NEXT's windows have the potential to produce significant onsite renewable power, offsetting anywhere from 10-40% of a typical commercial building's energy load. The windows also capture and convert infrared light, which reduces the building's heat load and further alleviates the existing strain on a building's power infrastructure."
"We've been using solar power at our headquarters in Ventura since 2005 and at our Reno Distribution Center since 1996," Corley Kenna, head of communications and public policy at Patagonia, said in prepared remarks. "We rely on 100% renewable electricity for our owned and operated facilities in the United States and 76% globally, achieved through on-site and off-site installations. We have funded more than 1,000 solar arrays on homes across the U.S. and have helped install more than 600 kilowatts of solar power globally to support agriculture." If window solar generation adds to ability to offset other power use, it is a net plus.
NEXT said that this was the first time it had demonstrated its technology on the façade of a building. Walters & Wolf designed, fabricated, and installed the glazing system for the windows. SolarFab, a division of GlassFab Tempering Services, fabricated the module units.
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