Concentrix Solar nears FLATCON Module volume production

Ramping new 25 MW (MegaWatt) production line in September 2008

Since Concentrix Concentrator PhotoVoltaic System achieves 23% Efficiency, Concentrix Solar GmbH announced the same High-efficiency FLATCON® technology enters industrial-scale production (Deutsch) last Friday, August 15, 2008. Concentrix is moving across the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, to a new 4000 square meter production and service space located in a portion of the former Spectral Lichttechnik building at the Auf der Haid industrial park.

Concentrix’s new factory will produce CPV (Concentrator PhotoVoltaic) FLATCON modules using an automated 25 MW production line leveraging two (2) years of experience operating their 1 MW pilot line. Concentrix claims “the infrastructure is already in place to step up production to 50 MW.” The new facility is expected to create 150 new jobs augmenting Concentrix’s fifty (50) or so employees.

With new production capacity in place, Concentrix is keen on expanding sales and will exhibit at the upcoming 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) in Valencia, Spain. Regarding the new production facility, CEO Hansjörg Lerchenmüller said:

It means we can at last meet the strong demand for our systems. High-efficiency concentrator photovoltaic systems will play a key role in the sunbelt because high efficiencies are a key to lowering costs. We are certainly well prepared for the future and can now additionally take on large power plant projects in the 1 to 10 MW range.

Per two German articles, Sonne gebündelt and Concentrix zieht auf die Haid, Concentrix turned down a 30 to 50% capital investment incentive from the German state of Saxony to move their mass production east. Concentrix cited their existing supplier network, partners (such as Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems), the attractiveness of Freiburg to future employees, and the immediate availability of the Spectral building as their rationale for staying put in Freiburg. Concentrix was said to be spending €2 million to alter the former Spectral building to suit their needs.

The CPV Consortium has a landing page for the Website Under Construction along with a CPV Consortium Membership Application for those interested in joining.

ISFOC Awards 1.3MW of Concentrator PhotoVoltaic power plants

Concentración Solar La Mancha S.L., EMCORE Corp., Arima Eco, and Sol3g submitted the winning bids.

The ISFOC, Instituto de Sistemas Fotovoltaicos de Concentración S.A. or Institute of Concentration Photovoltaics Systems, Board of Directors awarded the 13 Concentrator PhotoVoltaic (CPV) pilot power plants at their last meeting. These awards complete the tender for the second phase of ISFOC’s 3MW (MegaWatt) CPV pilot plant program detailed in the previous post, ISFOC 1.3MW CPV Power Plant tenders made public. The terse ISFOC announcement is here.

Including two (2) Spanish firms, here are the 1.3MW award details:

Concentración Solar La Mancha S.L. (ES)	300kW
EMCORE Corp. (US)	300kW
Arima Eco (Taiwan)	300kW
Sol3g (ES)	400kW

The unsuccessful bidders included: Menova Energy (Canada), GreenVolts (US), Electricidad Alsanbo S.L. (ES), Infopyme Solar (ES), and SolFocus (US). The failure of the GreenVolts bid for a 200kW (kiloWatt) pilot power plant is notable. Perhaps the capacity was too small and the price per kilowatt was too high? SolFocus was awarded 500kW of CPV pilot power plants in the first phase.

Thanks to the folks at Sol3g, S.L. for bringing this ISFOC award to my attention. Earlier this month, Sol3g joined ASIF (http://www.asif.org/), Asociación de la Industria Fotovoltaica or Spanish Photovoltaic Industry Association, per the press release Sol3g becomes member of Asif.

GreenVolts presents at Alternative Energy Innovations 2007

[Redwood City, California USA]

CCTO 2007 Alumni Award won by GreenVolts

GreenVolts, Inc. founder and CEO Bob Cart delivered a crisp company Utility Scale Solar presentation on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at the Dow Jones VentureWire Alternative Energy Innovations 2007 conference in Redwood City, California.

In a succinct summary of the GreenVolts business model, Mr. Cart said:

We sell energy not solar panels.

GreenVolts and PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) entered into a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the GV1 High Concentration PhotoVoltaic (HCPV) power plant as I reported in GreenVolts does it again with 2MW Solar Electric Plant deal with PG&E (revised to 2.5MWp) or see the press release, PG&E Adds Utility-Scale Solar Projects to Its Power Mix.

As I have been covering developments at GreenVolts since Solar Power 2006, I will focus on the deltas or what was new in this presentation.

GreenVolts does their own Research and Development (R&D) leveraging contract manufacturers to build their Off-Axis Microdish power units and two-axis tracking platform trademarked the CarouSol™ system. GreenVolts marketing and sales efforts serve two primary channels: 10-20MWp (MegaWatt-peak) direct utility customers and 1-10MWp project partner developers such as MMA Renewable Ventures, SunEdison LLC, or Chevron Energy Solutions for example.

The CarouSol tracker was billed as 3kWp (kiloWatt-peak) again like it was prior to GreenVolts Concentrates PhotoVoltaics in San Francisco. In addition, the CarouSol was positioned as self cleaning, self stowing, easy to install, and achieving the highest energy density compared to the competition.

The integrated self cleaning system utilizes a high pressure air blast and a small amount of water to keep the mirrors dust free. Accumulated dust on the mirrors can reduce the electricity production by about 15%. At night or during high wind conditions, the CarouSol will stow the power units by tipping them downward.

At 2.5 feet (0.76 meters) tall and 19 feet (5.79 meters) in diameter, the modular and light weight CarouSol was touted as simple to install because cranes or ladders are not required and poured concrete isn’t necessary for anchoring. Also, retrofit rooftop applications do not require roof penetration for mounting.

In a revelation regarding energy density, GreenVolts claimed the CarouSol system delivers almost two (2) times the power per unit area measured in MegaWatt-hours (MWh) per acre versus the one-axis SunPower (PowerLight) T20 Tracker and two and one-half (2.5) times the SolFocus HCPV solution at lower cost per kiloWatt-hour (kWh) generated.

GreenVolts is constructing a single shift 12MWp annual capacity pilot production line now with plans to scale to 60MWp by 2010. The pilot line will be used to perfect a copy exact approach for future expansions.

In closing, Bob Cart mentioned data from field testing showed promising results though it was from a brief two month period.

While a number of questions concerned the self cleaning system (cold weather and water in arid, desert locations), Mr. Cart did not tip any vendors for III-V Triple Junction Terrestrial Solar Cells or power plant scale invertors although he did say GV1 will use 500kW sized invertors reducing the potential supplier candidates.

Per the CCTO press release, California Clean Tech Open Awards Event San Francisco October 29, 2007:

A special CCTO "Alumni" award will be presented on October 29th to the 2006 finalist that has made most progress since last year's awards event in terms of investment funding or significant customer wins.

The 2007 Alumni Award will be presented to GreenVolts, a solar startup based in San Francisco. After winning the Renewables prize at the 2006 CCTO, GreenVolts has made enormous progress, recently signing an agreement with PG&E for a two megawatt HCPV (high concentration photovoltaic) power plant that, when completed, will be the largest in the world. To add to this, the company will be making a major announcement at Monday's event.

What could the major announcement from GreenVolts be? Could there be a new customer or round of venture capital funding? Towards the end of his presentation, Mr. Cart hinted GreenVolts will have an announcement regarding the later real soon. It would appear the timing will coincide with the CCTO Awards Ceremony.

For my previous GreenVolts Blog posts, click the Topic label GreenVolts.

I know GUNTHER Portfolio is our special secret, but, please, share it with a friend or colleague.

Solar Power 2007: It’s all about YOU!

Overwhelming Success driven by the participation of Solar Industry Professionals, Stakeholders, and just regular Folks

The Solar Power 2007 Conference and Expo opened yesterday in Long Beach, California, to record registrations from solar industry professionals, investors, utility managers, builders, policymakers, would be solar entrepreneurs, and citizens. Registration lines sprawled the length of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center until early afternoon.

As of today, there were about 9300 registrations including 500 new Expo Only registrations. About 3000 solar curious local residents packed the Expo Halls for the free Public Night to learn about solar technologies, going solar, and solar career opportunities.

The big story from the first day of Solar Power 2007 wasn’t a product or project announcement, a keynote address, or a celebrity speaker like Ted Turner. The cumulative contribution of individual attendees and local residents to the record attendance and interest in everything solar was the real “hot” story.

SEIA President Rhone Resch’s keynote hit on three early Conference themes. His 2007 Year in Review citied the First new CSP Plant Online and 2500MW under contract as the first bullet point. Photovoltaics was a mere second. Next, the status of the Energy Bill with the ITC (Investment Tax Credit) extensions was reviewed. And last, the Action Alert “We need YOU!” was issued to the Plenary audience to support the ongoing Energy Bill negotiations in the US Congress.

Ted Turner didn’t disappoint a receptive Opening Plenary session with quotable sound bites. See Turner: 'Drop Solar Panels, Not Bombs' by Jennifer Kho at Greentech Media for Mr. Turner’s insights and comments.

While Ted charmed the crowd, the earlier keynote by Ray Lane, Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), highlighted the keynotes and underscored a shift from Solar Power 2006. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and KPCB’s recent investment in Ausra, Inc. have stolen the utility scale spotlight from High Concentration PhotoVoltaics (HCPV) this year.

Sorry for this late initial post. I was sidetracked by an exceptional party last night at the Sky Room Bar hosted by MMA Renewable Ventures and the Antenna Group.

PV Industry Forum 2007

[Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany]

Solar Systems Victorian Project presented last but still best of Forum

There were about 300 participants at the PV Industry Forum 2007 on June 20, 2007, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, organized by Solar Promotion GmbH and PSE GmbH. As I mentioned before, this year’s program emphasized Thin films and Concentrating PhotoVoltaics (CPV). The Forum was a bit dry this year since the interactive peanut gallery comments of Prof. Dr. Peter Woditsch, Deutsche Solar AG CEO, were absent.

As I did last year (PV Industry Forum 2006 in Freiburg Part 1), I want to highlight the most compelling presentation first. Mr. Dave Holland, Solar Systems’ Managing Director and CEO, presented Experience in concentrator technology.

After reviewing the Solar Systems mainstay solution, the CS500 dish concentrator PV unit, Mr. Holland discussed how Solar Systems partnered with the Australian Federal and Victorian governments to accelerate HCPV (Heliostat Concentrator Photovoltaic) Getting to mainstream by subsidizing the 154MW Victorian Project as announced in World-leading mega scale solar power station for Victoria. Maybe it is better to let Mr. Holland speak for himself in this video clip:

The 154MW Victorian Project will use heliostats or sun tracking mirror collectors to reflect sunlight onto solar modules mounted atop fixed receiver towers about 40 meters in height. An active water (even high salinity water) cooling system will be used to keep the multi-junction III-V photovoltaic cells operating at 60ºC in order to optimize energy output and generate 270,000 MWh (MegaWatt-hours) of electricity per annum upon project completion.

The Victorian Project has grant funding totaling $125 million AUD (about €80 million Euros). $75 million AUD was provided by the Australian Federal Government under the Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund (LETDF) while the Victorian Government provided $50 million AUD. Project financing for the remaining $295 million AUD will be sourced from the private sector.

In numbers, the Victorian Project requires: 19,250 Heliostats, 246 Receivers, 62,976 PV Modules, and 600 to 800 hectares of land. The project will be constructed over six and a half years in three phases: 2MW Phase 1, 100MW Phase 2, and 50MW Phase 3.

In the following video clip, Dr. Winfried Hoffmann, Applied Materials GmbH & Co. KG, asks how HCPV stacks up versus large scale Solar Thermal plants, and Mr. Holland tips plans to split the heated water to create hydrogen for energy storage.

And for those folks who believe the PV Industry can be covered from a cramped desk on Wall Street, Jesse W. Pichel, Sr. Research Analyst, PiperJaffray, attended this year’s PV Industry Forum although his name was absent from the attendee roster.

As you can see, the PV Industry Forum 2008 will be held on June 10-11, 2008, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.