Solar panel cleaning tech from Superclean Glass a finalist in DOE’s American-Made Solar Prize

This device used for experiments is a highly transparent electrodynamic shield deposited on glass to repel dust from solar panels. Photo Credit: Stony Brook University

Superclean Glass, Inc., a company that uses a solar panel-cleaning technology developed at Stony Brook University and a start-up mentored by the Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP) at Stony Brook, has been named a finalist in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) American-Made Solar Prize for 2021. Superclean Glass was one of 10 companies named as finalists and will receive a $100,000 prize and an additional $75,000 in DOE vouchers to test their technologies.

Led by Founder and CEO Alexander Orlov, PhD, a Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, Superclean Glass has created an electro-dynamic shield that repels dust from solar panels. The process can save up to 98 percent of the energy typically lost on panels subjected to the outdoors, often in dusty regions.

Superclean Glass, housed at the Long Island High Tech Incubator, is one of only three companies in New York State named as a finalist for the DOE American-Made Solar Prize and the only one from Long Island. The team of inventors also includes Stony Brook PhD candidate Shrish Patel; Victor Veerasamy, PhD, a world expert on glass and coatings, and Research Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering; and Jim Smith.

We’ve covered the virtues of an electro-dynamic cleaning tech previously. For a broader description of the electro-dynamic shield repelling dust:

The company has been recognized for its innovative technology early on during its existence as a CEBIP company. It recently received an “Oscar of Innovation” award from R&D World Magazine, and a PowerBridgeNY grant in 2018 to further develop the solar panel cleaning technology.

The American-Made Solar Prize is a $3 million competition designed by the DOE to revitalize solar manufacturing through a series of contests. It develops a diverse and powerful support network that leverages national laboratories, incubators, and other resources across the country. The finalists were named in the fourth round of the competition and selected from 20 research teams that presented their solar innovations to a panel of expert judges hosted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.

In September 2021, two winners from the finalists will be determined at a demo day. These winners will receive an additional $500,000 and up to $75,000 in vouchers to develop and test their prototypes.

Source: https://solarbuildermag.com/news/solar-panel-cleaning-tech-from-superclean-glass-a-finalist-in-does-american-made-solar-prize/