cpvs

Concentrated solar to get big Colorado spread

Colorado could soon be home to the largest concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar farms in the world .

A 30-megawatt solar plant in the works would cover approximately 225 acres of the San Luis Valley in Colorado on land adjacent to transmission facilities owned by the electricity utility, Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo).

PSCo is a subsidiary of the electricity and natural gas giant Xcel Energy, which has signed a contract to have Congentrix, a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs Group, to design and build the concentrated solar plant.

Congentrix has garnered all the necessary permits for the project, which … Read more

IBM, Saudis to open solar desalination plant

IBM and Saudi Arabia's national research group are opening a solar-powered desalination plant in the city of Al-Khafji.

The pilot plant will supply water to about 100,000 people and pump out about 30,000 cubic meters of potable drinking water per day. It will run exclusively on solar-powered electricity, and showcase two technology breakthroughs that were the result of a multi-year collaborative research agreement signed in 2008 by IBM and the Saudi research group known as the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).

On the solar end, the plant will use ultra-high concentrator photovoltaic (UHCPV) cells … Read more

Bright spot for one California college: A solar farm

Amid all the budget cuts at California's university and community college systems that administrators and students are facing, good news on a California campus is hard to come by these days.

Here is one bright spot.

Victor Valley College, a community college in Victorville, Calif., is partnering with SolFocus to add solar energy as a campus energy source and a part of its curriculum. It plans to install a 1-megawatt high-concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar farm on 6 acres of its campus.

The installation once completed will save the campus about a third in annual energy use and raise up … Read more

Record deal for boosted solar panels

SolFocus, a maker of concentrator photovoltaic systems, has signed a $103 million (80 euro) deal with Empe Solar, a Spanish group that promotes solar energy use.

Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems typically use lenses and mirrors to concentrate light on solar cells to maximize the amount of electricity they can generate.

SolFocus plans to install over 10 megawatts of CPV systems across southern Spain for Empe Solar between now and 2010 as part of the deal.

SolFocus has already completed three utility-scale projects in Spain.

The 10-megawatt installation would collectively generate enough energy to supply a town of 40,000 residents, … Read more