ClearVue Technologies to upgrade South African towers with power-generating glass
- Doug Bright
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
ASX-listed ClearVue Technologies (ASX: CPV) has inked a major deal with its official strategic licence partner, Johannesburg-based Concept Business Group, to upgrade two 10-storey commercial towers in South Africa.
The project involves replacing the entire outer coverings - or facades - which are the visible front or sides of the buildings held in place like large wall panels, using ClearVue’s proprietary solar-powered glass and cladding.
The transformation includes the company’s solar vision glass, solar cladding and solar skylights. The panels can be visually transparent or may match modern building exterior designs and finishes, while capturing sunlight to produce electricity, turning once-passive building exteriors into built-in power generators.
The upgrade is expected to supply more than 40% of the towers’ energy needs, which will sharply reduce running costs and the pollution associated with conventional fossil-fuelled power generation.
building owners can significantly offset their carbon footprint while generating a return on investment. ClearVue Managing Director and CEOMr Douglas Hunt
The project is worth more than A$1 million and is expected to pay for itself in under five years, underlying what is rapidly becoming an economic business case for ClearVue’s product suite.
Concept Business Group, established in 2007, helps companies lower energy usage and waste by linking different green technologies such as sensors to track usage and solar heating systems.
The company focusses on reducing pollution, saving energy and water and improving food production in practical ways. It has worked with telecom giant Vodacom for 15 years on greener air-conditioning systems powered partly by renewables, resulting in energy savings of between 40% and 80%.
In retail, Concept has handled power upgrades and installations for major chains, including Woolworths across all its stores and it has deployed smart monitoring and solar heating for other shops, enabling them to cut energy bills by up to 55%.
The ClearVue deal fits well with Concept’s doctrine of making operations carbon-free, helped by its Sydney office that links projects between Australia and other regions.
Concept Business Group is one of our foundational partners, and this order serves as strong validation of our partner-led growth strategy. Retrofitting existing real estate is critical for the environment, but it must also make commercial sense.
ClearVue Managing Director and CEO Mr Douglas (Doug) Hunt
The retrofit is still being planned in detail and will be led by Concept’s project teams, who will handle the design, engineering and on-site fitting - often drawing on trusted partners for specialist work - with ClearVue on hand for technical advice.
Concept Business Group managing director Mr Craig Boyd said the installation is about buildings becoming energy generators, offering energy options and modernising real estate assets.
Work is due to start in the second quarter of next year and looks likely to become a historic marker in a transition that could see solar power added to urban buildings across Africa both for environmental and commercial reasons.
Originally commencing life with solar generating window glass panels, ClearVue has been rapidly developing a suite of solar generating building products, including balcony railings and roofs to name just two.
With countries pushing hard to reach carbon-free targets, ideas like ClearVue’s electricity-generating building exteriors offer a clear path towards broad adoption of affordable eco-upgrades, proving that self-powering buildings can go hand in hand with style and pleasing aesthetics.
And if ClearVue can maintain a payback of around 5 years for its products, it will also have a viable commercial product on its hands that can stand alone as an investment option for real estate owners.
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