YOUR windows are ideally-placed to generate solar electricity for your home, but it'd be great if you could still enjoy a clear view as well.

Photovoltaic glazing is already a reality for those who want to generate power from the sun’s rays, but don’t have the ability or inclination to put conventional panels on their roof.

However, Cambridge’s Polysolar is hoping to take the technology a few steps further, creating a lower-cost and colourless product that mimics a regular window.

The sourcing and development company was set up in early 2007, and offers a range of products, including its silicon-based transparent but tinted photovoltaic glazing. In a bid to fine-tune this next-generation organic photovoltaic technology, it has now set up a research and development office at County Durham’s Printable Electronics Technology Centre.

Polysolar CEO Hamish Watson said: “We’re looking at a replacement for windows which is colourless and transparent. We produce a transparent photovoltaic today in silicon, but this new material would be cheaper and we’d be looking at half the price of conventional photovoltaics.

“The issues are increasing the performance of solar cells when you’re not capturing all the light and you need to increase the performance. You also need to utilise non-visible spectrum light so you can get a consistent colour and let as much light as possible through the window.

“It’s probably about two years before it goes to the commercial market.”