US DOE highlights growth of solar power

The U. S. Department of Energy has announced that the amount of electricity generated from solar power has started to grow rapidly and is projected to reach 18,000 MW hours per day in 2013.

The Department further mentioned that a growing solar industry represents a tremendous economic opportunity for the U. S., motivating the Department to invest $58 million in the SunShot Initiative which supports the country’s best solar energy entrepreneurs and innovators.

A couple of weeks ago the Department confirmed new investments totalling $10 million over five years for two university-led projects to advance promising CSP system technologies. The initiative forms part of the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative. The selected projects (University of California–Los Angeles, $5 million over five years; and University of Arizona, $5 million over five years) are working to develop heat transfer fluids that can operate at temperatures of up to 2,350 degrees Fahrenheit, while simultaneously maintaining high levels of performance.

Also in July, the SunShot Initiative invested nearly $8 million in the SunShot Incubator Programme. In this sixth Incubator funding round, the Energy Department is enabling nine start-ups to work on developing novel concepts for CSP incubation.

Areva collaborates with Sandia National Laboratories

Areva Solar has joined with Sandia National Laboratories to develop a new CSP installation with thermal energy storage.

The project combines Areva’s modular Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar design with Sandia Labs’ molten salt storage system.

This, according to Areva, will be the first CSP integration with Sandia Labs’ Molten Salt Test Loop System located at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This CLFR molten salt storage system, commercially available in 2013, expands Areva’s portfolio of dispatchable CSP solutions, including solar/natural gas hybrid plants as well as solar augmentation of new and existing fossil-fuelled plants. The company has CSP projects in operation and under construction in the U.S., India and Australia.

Bill Gallo, CEO of Areva Solar said using molten salt storage to extend daily solar electricity generation is not new, but combining it with CLFR technology is. This will result in a storage system that provides users with the advantages of CLFR technology along with the benefits of extended dispatchability through molten salt storage — day and night.

New hybrid power control system to be developed in Japan

Toshiba, Kobe Steel and Keio University have been selected by Japan’s Ministry of Environment to develop and verify a hybrid power control system for concentrated solar power, wind turbine and biomass binary power generation.

The companies aim to develop a stable hybrid power control system for CSP, wind turbine and a biomass binary power generating systems that will provide feed-in to the grid.

The system will be based on an existing 1.5MW wind turbine in combination with a new CSP system and biomass binary power generating system. The binary power generating system integrates a chip boiler that produces steam to drive a turbine by heating a working medium with a low boiling point. It will also deliver hot water to the system’s users.

The total construction cost is expected to be around $8.7 million, half of which will be covered by a subsidy from Ministry of Environment.

The scope of work is as follows:

•          Toshiba: conduct overall system engineering and development of the control system and CSP    

            collector.

•          Keio University: development of a system to control fluctuation in wind power output.

•          Kobe Steel: development of woody biomass binary generating system.

The system will be built in Minami Awaji, a city in Hyogo region, west of Osaka. The three companies will prepare the site in the current fiscal year and start operation in fiscal year of 2013. System verification will be completed by the end of fiscal year 2014.

Siemens introduces new solar receiver

Siemens has released its new solar receiver, the UVAC 6G (Universal Vacuum Air Collector). This is Siemens sixth generation solar receiver.

The company says its new collector further increases thermal heat production for solar power plants. The improved heat generation of the UVAC 6G enables the construction and operation of more efficient power plants that allows solar field operators to reduce capital and operating expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX) by up to 2.5%.

The UVAC 6G features improved coatings. It absorbs maximum solar energy and converts it into heat used to produce electricity.

Flabeg works on anti-soiling coating for solar mirrors

Glass technology specialist Flabeg has developed its first anti-soiling coating for solar mirrors.

The company says the duraGLARE coating reduces the amount of dirt that settles on solar mirrors in solar thermal power plants by up to 50%. The average reflection of solar mirrors is enhanced by up to 2%, since dust and sand are prevented from settling on the surface of mirrors. This results in a significant reduction in maintenance costs..