sopogy

Hawaii aims for microthermal solar utopia

It's not every solar project that gets its own ground-blessing ceremony.

But the Kalaeloa Solar One project will pay back native Hawaiians with both energy and rent through a partnership with Keahole Solar Power, Hawaiian start-up Sopogy, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL).

Which is why there was a ground-blessing ceremony held for the project yesterday in Kalealoa, Oahu, west of Honolulu.

Sopogy is supplying its micro-concentrated solar panels (MicroCSP) for the 5-megawatt thermal solar plant that will tie-in to a new plan for the Kalealoa community near Honolulu.

Sopogy's panels are actually small solar troughs … Read more

Solar air conditioners to chill California utility

Southern California Gas company is testing how well the sun can cool buildings.

The Los Angeles-based utility said on Tuesday that it has chosen two solar concentrators to measure how effective they are at cooling. The units will be installed on the roof of its Energy Resource Center (ERC) in Downey, Calif.

Both products--one from Hawaiian start-up Sopogy and another from HelioDynamics in the U.K.--reflect and concentrate incoming sunlight onto a pipe to heat water. That heated water is used in place of gas or electricity to power an industrial absorption chiller, which creates cold air using a … Read more

Sopogy thinks small to make megawatts of solar power

If giant solar thermal power plants spread across the desert are like a mainframe, Sopogy is making the equivalent of a personal computer.

The Hawaii-based company on Tuesday at the Intersolar 2008 conference will show off the latest version of its MicroCSP--essentially a shrunk-down version of concentrating solar power (CSP) equipment used in power plants.

It's a trough with a reflective coating that focuses sunlight onto a pipe that carries an oil. That heated liquid goes through an organic Rankine cycle engine to convert it into electricity.

The conventional thinking in solar these days is to think big. … Read more