CORVALLIS — When Oregon State University researchers first announced they had created a transparent transistor, John Wager, professor of electrical and computer engineering, said it was too early to tell what practical applications might arise from it.

Five years later, the technology has found its first industrial use: making solar panels lighter, more efficient and with the ability to blend in or accent a building’s architecture.

“After the first discoveries with transparent electronics, we were thinking of applications like transparent displays or consumer electronics,” Wager said. “But as with any breakthrough, sometimes at first you can’t even see all the possible uses. The potential to create solar energy technology that’s far more efficient and affordable is very exciting.”

Two years ago, OSU licensed the exclusive rights to develop and market products based on the new technology to Hewlett-Packard Co. By partnering with Xtreme Energetics, a Livermore, Calif., company that is licensing the use of transparent transistors, HP gets products using the material to market faster and receives royalties from sales. OSU also earns a share.

Colin Williams, CEO of Xtreme Energetics, said his company’s design begins with a tiny solar cell embedded within a lens to focus the sun’s energy on it.

Silicon-based solar cells — the heavy black panels currently in use — require mechanical devices to pivot them and track the sun across the sky. Transparent transistors can do that optically, making the sandwich of lenses, cells and electronics much lighter.

And since most of the panel is clear, architectural elements such as color and texture can show through them, opening up the technology to become an integral part of a building’s design.

“This has the potential to dramatically open up how we design our buildings with photovoltaics,” Williams said.

The design also opens up possibilities for installing acres of solar arrays without the need for heavy, expensive tracking mechanisms and to use the savings inherent in an electronic system to drive down costs.

“If you look at the costs of a display for a computer over the years, prices have come down dramatically. The price of an auto has remained similar when adjusted for inflation,” Williams said. “We think it’s the same in photovoltaics. You’re never going to drive the price down unless you start using an electronic tracker.”

OSU’s transparent integrated circuit technology was based on materials science research in the College of Engineering and the College of Science at the university.

The work is also affiliated with the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute, an Oregon-based collaboration of universities, private industry and the state housed on HP’s Corvallis campus.

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On the Net:

Hewlett-Packard Co.: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/

Xtreme Energetics: http://www.xesolar.com/

Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute: http://www.onami.us/

OSU College of Engineering: http://engr.oregonstate.edu/