U.S. Local Officials Praise Richten Energy’s Colored Solar PV Façade Technology at Smart City Expo

Economic Daily News 

The 2026 Smart City Expo opened yesterday, March 17, drawing a large number of international city representatives to the Ministry of the Interior’s Net-Zero Vision Pavilion in the morning. Among the technologies on display, the colored solar PV façade solution presented by Richten Energy Co., Ltd. attracted strong interest from delegations from several countries and received high praise on site from U.S. local government leaders, making it one of the exhibition’s most closely watched solutions with clear potential for international deployment.

After seeing the technology in person, Chris Boys, 2nd District Commissioner of Ford County, Kansas, called it “an excellent solution” and said it could reshape the way cities think about energy.

“It changes the entire urban energy ecosystem,” Boys said. “Buildings are no longer just energy consumers. They can also become sources of energy generation.”

He also noted that design quality would be essential for city-level adoption. “The most important point is that it is also visually appealing,” he said. “That matters greatly when cities consider new technology, and we would very much welcome seeing this solution deployed locally.”

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich of Maryland, who has led a delegation to Taiwan’s Smart City Expo for four consecutive years, also expressed support for the technology.

“We have been following Richten Energy’s technology for three years, and every year we have seen clear progress and breakthroughs,” Elrich said. “This time, we look forward to developing a more concrete plan to bring this technology into real-world use in Montgomery County.”

The strong response from multiple international city representatives suggests that Richten Energy’s colored solar PV façade technology is moving beyond a demonstration-stage innovation and into the assessment phase for real-world urban adoption. The exhibition also incorporated validation results from the Architecture and Building Research Institute under Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior, presenting a more complete pathway for Taiwan’s net-zero building sector — from policy support and technology development to field testing and practical application.

Officials at the exhibition said the buildings of the future will not only be energy users, but also important nodes in urban energy supply. In that context, façade-based solar generation is expected to become one of the next major areas of breakthrough.

Hsueh Wei-li, Founder and CEO of Richten Energy, said true net-zero transition is not about simply adding more equipment, but about redefining the role of buildings.

“Our goal is to turn building façades into energy assets,” Hsueh said. “By connecting those assets with carbon value and urban value, we can build a sustainable business model.”

He added that as global energy pressures intensify and carbon-related policies move forward more quickly, building façades — long treated as underused surfaces — are rapidly becoming strategic resources for urban energy generation. Taiwan, he said, has already built a leading position in this emerging field.

Throughout the exhibition, delegations from the United States and other countries were seen engaging in frequent discussions, creating strong connections across policy, city governance and industry. As more international cities express clear interest in cooperation and adoption, Taiwan’s technology is moving from being seen to being used.

When cities begin to see every wall as a potential energy asset, net zero is no longer just a long-term target. It becomes part of everyday urban life.