New Delhi, Sept. 23: Glass exteriors on highrises not only look good but can also generate power.

A thin sheet of special photosensitive material (building integrated photovaltic modules) sandwiched between two glass sheets can help generate solar energy.

Sharp Business Systems, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Japan-based Sharp Corporation — the world’s largest solar cell producer, plans to introduce this technology in India.

Sharp Business Systems (SBS), which is primarily an office automation company, has ventured into solar business in India earlier this month. “The country is short of power and any source of alternative energy will help,” said Sunil K. Sinha, managing director of SBS.

“An alternative source of energy is important for India. Whether it is hospitals, offices or shopping malls, companies should look at saving energy and costs. Solar energy will help do that,” he said.

According to Sinha, solar power can light up village homes, generate power for streetlights, railway stations, space satellites, light houses near the sea and hilly areas.

“To begin with, we will import solar modules from our parent company and sell it to system integrators who can give it to their customers. However, for a big project, we would like to take it up ourselves,” said Sinha.

The company does not rule out the possibility of manufacturing solar cells in India but only if there is good demand and policy support from the government, Sinha said.

SBS hopes to take over 20 per cent of the Rs 600-crore domestic market by 2010. Target is to achieve Rs 100 crore turnover in next three years from the solar business in India.

The solar energy business in India is around Rs 400-500 crore and is expected to touch Rs 600 crore in the next three years.

SBS is one of the three subsidiaries of Sharp in India, which sells multimedia projectors, facsimiles, electronic registers, LCD displays and electronic calculators.

Sharp sells mono and multi crystalline modules and focuses on new technologies such as thin film silicon solar cells.

With a global turnover of $1.3 billion last year, Sharp Corporation has recently set up a facility in Japan to manufacture solar cells capable of harnessing 710MW of power per year.