ClearVue lands “significant” first US order for solar glass greenhouse, courtesy of IRA

Australian smart building materials company ClearVue Technologies has landed its first commercial order in the United States, a $A250,000 deal to supply its clear solar glass for a greenhouse in California.

The landmark order from Greenhouse System USA will see ClearVue’s single glazing laminate integrated into an existing greenhouse structure, to provide around 82kW of solar power – or an estimated 107,000 kWh per year.

ClearVue says the project is eligible for incentives created by US president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, due to the fact that the single glazing laminate is developed by ClearVue in conjunction with research partner D2Solar in California2.

“This agreement marks a significant step in ClearVue’s mission to revolutionise sustainable agriculture
and contribute to a cleaner, greener future,” the company said in an ASX announcement on Monday.

ClearVue’s world-first demonstration clear solar glass greenhouse, installed in Western Australia in 2021 using its home grown BIPV technology, was earlier this year shown to have cut the facility’s energy use almost in half, compared to a conventionally glazed alternative.

ClearVue reported in August that the results from its “first of a kind” two-year study at Murdoch University had demonstrated a roughly 40% reduction in the solar greenhouse energy use intensity.

As well as a “significant offset of facility energy consumption,” the results of the study, published in peer-reviewed paper in MDPI’s Technologies journal, also reveal remarkably consistent energy generation by the solar greenhouse.

Martin Deil, the global CEO of ClearVue Technologies, said this week that using the company’s solar glass on greenhouses has been an integral part of its strategy “from day one,” to cater to the growing global need for renewable energy solutions for sustainable agriculture.

“This new order validates our strategy for targeting the US protected cropping agriculture market and opens an opportunity in global solar greenhouse glass currently worth $US7.5 billion per year and growing,” Deil said.

“The increasing demand for renewable energy in agriculture is bolstered by government incentives including the US Inflation Reduction Act as well as a consumer push for sustainability, and ClearVue and System USA are excited to deliver our solutions to the agricultural sector.”

System USA president Peter Fryn said his company had closely evaluated ClearVue’s technology and had “full confidence” the greenhouse glass solution would achieve robust energy generation and efficiency.

Fryn also said that the two companies were in negotiations for a distribution agreement to give System USA the rights to distribute the ClearVue greenhouse glass product in California and other US states.

ClearVue has been making steady progress with its technology both in Australia and abroad since making its debut on the stock exchange in 2018, and its first commercial demonstration in 2019 – a solar glass atrium at the entrance to a suburban Perth shopping centre.

In August 2021, ClearVue Technologies took an order to supply a greenhouse at a high-profile eco-tourism and “wellness” project in Japan.

Last year, the company commissioned modelling to demonstrate how its solar glass can boost a building’s energy efficiency and thermal efficiency standards to world-leading levels – as well as supply a good chunk of its electricity.

The modelling was based on an “archetype” six-storey office building located in in Canada, named ‘ClearZero,’ developed by energy efficiency and sustainability specialists, Footprint, using ClearVue’s solar glazing as the primary façade material.

This year, ClearVue has turned its focus to bringing manufacturing of its core technology onshore, with a grant of up to $2 million to establish a WA-based Photovoltaic (PV) and Nanoparticle Components Manufacturing Facility.

And in May, the company unveiled improvements to both its patented solar glass technology and solar façades which will reduce fabrication time and costs while also boosting energy output for its solar façade solutions.