Western Australian-based solar windows innovator ClearVue Technologies is transferring the manufacture of its core technology from Asia to Australia after securing a $2 million grant from the McGowan Government.
The company says the move will mitigate supply chain risks as it spreads its footprint globally. Local manufacturing will replace imports that have been coming from China and until recently, Russia.
It is expected to open up an opportunity for ClearVue to sell high-tech nanoparticles and quantum dots to third parties in sectors such as mining and defence. It also means a diversification in WA’s manufacturing capabilities and the creation of new jobs.
ClearVue expects the facility will create up to 15 skilled permanent jobs, in addition to work required from contractors. Management hopes to open the plant as soon as possible somewhere in Perth’s metropolitan area after processing equipment arrives. The plant is slated to open mid-next year.
Paperwork for the grant – secured as part of the State Government’s Investment Attraction Fund program – was signed today at the company’s West Perth headquarters. It will be paid in stages and used towards building a photovoltaics (PV) and nanoparticle components manufacturing facility. Payments will be made once project milestones are reached, with the final instalment slated for July next year.
Specifically, ClearVue intends to establish an assembly line that can manufacture the PV strips used for solar collection in its solar windows and façades.
The company’s proprietary technology revolves around a thin transparent film or interlayer that sits between two or more panes of glass in a window. This film absorbs the sun’s rays and then radiates the energy to solar strips around the window edges. The solar energy is then converted into electricity that can be used, for example, to open and close the window to adjust the building temperature and aid air circulation.
The company deploys the technology in its “Solar Facades Solutions” to create what it says is a fully-integrated energy-generating building.
Additionally, ClearVue intends to establish an in-house nanoparticle and quantum dot production capability. It would produce the nanoparticles used in the polyvinyl butyral lamination interlayer used in most of its end products.
Management says the reactors used to produce the nanoparticles would also produce quantum dots – a key part of its technology and innovation pipeline as commercialisation advances.
The core intellectual property components that will be manufactured at the new facility will be shipped locally and globally to the company’s licensed manufacturers and fabricators for use in solar façades and windows.
COVID and the Ukraine war have confirmed that control of the manufacturing of our core components is critical to ensuring our future supply chain. We are all very pleased that we will be able to keep certain core parts of the business within Western Australia going forward – including creating new local skilled jobs and diversifying the economy – even as we are reaching out into global markets, including our key sales territories of the US and Europe. ClearVue Technologies acting chief executive officer and executive director Jamie Lyford
WA’s Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade, Roger Cook, described ClearVue as a “trailblazer” in advanced solar glazing and window solutions, dubbing the company a genuine State success story.
“With their patented technology, they continue to expand into international markets and the $2m Investment Attraction Fund grant will enable ClearVue to manufacture its key components onshore for the foreseeable future, creating new employment opportunities within the sector,” Mr Cook said.
ClearVue was founded by glass industry veteran Victor Rosenberg, who steered the company to its ASX listing in 2018 and who was chief executive officer until earlier this year. He is currently the company’s non-executive chairman. A new CEO, Martin Deil, is set to begin at the company on 1 June.
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