New Innovations

“Solar Paint" to replace PV panels?

A US based company has developed a revolutionary “paint” that is seen by some as the next big thing in renewables. The company claims a 40 percent efficiency and will cost only a third of traditional solar PV panels.

The “NextGen” solar paint is a liquid material that forms webs of nanoscale solar cells when it dries and it can be painted onto practically any surface.  Developed by the Argonne National Laboratory, the solar paint beats out thin-film PV cells in efficiency because it captures more wavelengths of light.

The company is currently working with ambitious clean tech investors, hoping to get the prototype out of the lab and onto roofs, windows and walls soon.  A commercial breakthrough of this type of clean energy technology - one that is cheap and efficient enough to go up against coal - could make a big impact but it will still need to be hard wired in and connected to the grid.