• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

SolFocus Completes Initial Phase of 3 MW Spanish CPV Solar Project

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 09:01 CDT

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and PUERTOLLANO, Spain, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- SolFocus today announced the completion of its initial phase of the world's first full scale concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar power plant. This facility, owned by the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC), has been created both as a power production facility and a proving ground for CPV technology. The project demonstrates that CPV technology, with its higher efficiency and potential for cost reduction, will be an attractive alternative to other solar technologies in key high solar resource regions around the globe. This first 200 kilowatt (kW) phase of SolFocus' deployment is ready to generate clean, reliable, carbon-free electricity for the local power grid for decades to come.

"Completing this first stage of the ISFOC project marks a major milestone for SolFocus, and for concentrator photovoltaics in general, on our way toward achieving grid parity for renewable energy," said Gary D. Conley, CEO of SolFocus. "Working with the ISFOC team in this collaborative project of commercial deployment and scale, we are proud to deliver on the immense promise and potential that CPV holds in scaling to meet the world's energy needs."

SolFocus is continuing its second phase of the project, which will bring installed capacity of its CPV systems at ISFOC to 500 kW over the next month.

"We chose SolFocus' CPV arrays as part of the ISFOC project because we believed their non-imaging optical design would provide efficient and reliable systems," said Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General of ISFOC. "We had confidence that they would be able to meet not just the design challenges, but the manufacturing challenges for volume deployment as well; we could not be more pleased with the results."

The company's innovative CPV technology employs a system of imaging and non-imaging reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. SolFocus CPV systems use 1/1,000th of the active, expensive solar cell material compared to traditional photovoltaic panels. In addition, the cells used in SolFocus CPV systems have over twice the conversion efficiency of traditional cells, accelerating the trajectory for solar energy to reach cost parity with fossil fuels. SolFocus CPV solar panels are made primarily of readily available and cost-effective materials such as aluminum and glass. These CPV systems have the lowest carbon footprint in manufacturing, and are over 95-percent recyclable.

SolFocus integrates its CPV panels with its advanced tracking system that continuously aligns the solar array with direct sunlight throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky. SolFocus tracking systems are also being used with traditional PV, as the tracker's high degree of accuracy allows PV systems to produce as much as 40 percent more energy over fixed PV installations.

SolFocus, with European headquarters in Madrid, Spain and United States headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., also has installed systems in Arizona, California, Hawaii and India. Last month, the company was honored at the prestigious 6th World Investment Conference in La Baule France with the Best Cleantech Investment Award for the company's investment in Spain and expansion into the European market.

Pictures of the company's CPV arrays in action can be seen here: http://www.solfocus.com/Logo.php.

About SolFocus

The SolFocus mission is to enable solar energy generation at a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) competitive with energy generation from traditional fossil fuel sources, without reliance on incentives or other subsidies. To achieve this goal, SolFocus has developed new and leveraged existing technologies that eliminate the cost barriers to solar energy. SolFocus has an expanding portfolio of products and technologies including solar concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems, intelligent tracking systems for CPV and flat panel PV systems, and is expanding into other solar technologies such as solar thermal. SolFocus, Inc. is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., which is home to corporate development, marketing, technology research, CPV product development, and corporate support functions. SolFocus Europe, Inc., a subsidiary of SolFocus, is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. SolFocus Europe is responsible for business in the region, and is also home to SolFocus product development activity for tracking systems and solar thermal products. The company's glassworks operations are located in Mesa, Arizona.

About ISFOC

The Instituto de Sistemas Fotovoltaicos de Concentracion is the result of the R&D plan promoted by the Department of Education and Science from the Castilla La Mancha Government and the Institute of Solar Energy from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid. The project is financed by the Ministry of Education and Science. The headquarters, laboratories and some of the ISFOC pilot photovoltaic plants are being built in Puertollano, where all the Institute activities will be coordinated. Establishing in Castilla La Mancha the main vehicle for the development of CPV technologies is our chief goal. In order to generate key knowledge on this technology, ISFOC is executing a number of power plants (up to 3 MW in total) incorporating different concentrator technologies which are becoming available in the market. ISFOC has become a national and world reference in CPV and with the infrastructure installed after the two year establishment period, ambitious R&D projects will be undertaken.

SolFocus

CONTACT: Nancy Hartsoch, VP Marketing of SolFocus, +1-650-623-7134,Nancy_hartsoch@solfocus.com; or Casey Cronin of Antenna Group,+1-415-977-1912, casey@antennagroup.com, for SolFocus

Web site: http://www.solfocus.com/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category