NEXT Energy Technologies

NEXT Energy Technologies develops transparent coatings that can be integrated into windows, allowing them to function as solar panels. The company’s technology is enabled by proprietary organic semiconducting materials, similar to ink, used as a coating. NEXT claims that its solution is half the cost of traditional solar panels and has a useful life of 30 years. As of June 2021, the company has yet to commercialize the technology but claims its early partners are testing demonstration units.

In June 2022, NEXT completed a Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) project that showcased that NEXT’s technology could lower the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) from an otherwise equal window to something below .20, indicating higher energy efficiency. This represented a median source energy savings of ~10% across all locations and a maximum source energy savings of up to 50% in locations such as New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona compared to scenarios for traditional windows.

Key customers and partnerships

In March 2022, NEXT partnered with NSG Group to carry out a joint marketing effort between NSG’s European subsidiary and NEXT. In April 2022, NEXT carried out a demonstration of a PC Prototype Window Wall at the headquarters of its manufacturing and glazing partner Walters & Wolf in Fremont, CA.

In January 2023, NEXT installed its first solar windows at Patagonia’s corporate headquarters.

Funding and financials

NEXT Energy’s most recent funding event was in April 2023, when the company was awarded a USD 3 million grant from the Realizing Accelerated Manufacturing and Production for Clean Energy Technologies (RAMP) program by the California Energy Commission. The company intended to use the funds to scale up its Low-Rate Initial Production line to assemble window glass coated with NEXT’s solution. Prior to this, in August 2021, the company was awarded a USD 3 million grant by the California Energy Commission to scale up and demonstrate its glass-coating technology.

In June 2021 the company raised USD 13.4 million in a Series C round led by lon Blue Square Israel, GEAR Innovation Network, Viracon, and Rincon Advisors. The proceeds were expected to be used toward commercialization, pilot installations, durability testing, and industry certification.