Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Solar power is all about the sun, right? Wrong. With next-generation solar technology, you won’t need the sun, only indoor lighting, to generate electricity, according to Rick Hess, CEO of privately-held Konarka Technologies in Lowell, MA, a company that builds polymer photovoltaic products, a material that converts light to energy.
Think of it as “recaptured” energy, Hess said, indicating he sees tremendous growth ahead in reflective technologies.
Meanwhile, within five years, said Ren Jenkins, vice president of marketing for EPV Solar in Robbinsville, NJ, there will be “mass adoption” of solar power by the residential sector, assuming the U.S. Congress votes for a continuation of the investment tax credit for solar. EPV designs and sells thin-film solar modules.
Without that extension by Congress, there will be “all kinds of pain” and a “massive shakeout” in the solar industry, according to David Arfin, vice president, customer finance, for Foster, CA-based SolarCity, which designs and installs solar systems in the U.S. Uncertainty over what Congress will eventually do “has started to ripple through” publicly-held solar companies, Arfin said, although the sector recently got a boost as it increasingly looked like the House of Representatives would approve an extension (although its fate in the Senate would still be up in the air).
An adviser to Massapequa, NY-based Clear Skies Solar, a publicly-traded company that installs solar PV systems, warned about what he described as the “limbo” in Spain over whether to extend financial incentives for solar power. But he added that Greece “is coming on very strong” as a country in which to do solar PV business.
Konarka’s Hess made it clear that next-generation solar technology will be transformative. He forecast wallpaper that will generate an electric current from reflected indoor light, as well as see-through panels used in buildings that will serve as a reflective film. He said that with these sun-less solar technologies, there will be new uses for solar that “people haven’t imagined yet.” He mentioned that he had just gotten a call from a lock company that wants to power the electronic latches on hotel doors with indoor hallway light. Shouldn’t be a problem, Hess indicated.
Jenkins of EPV Solar added that he expects more buildings to make more of their own energy, using technologies such as reflective solar. He mentioned that the United Arab Emirates wants 2.5% of energy consumed by buildings to be made by the buildings themselves.