CALIF COMPANY TO BUILD ADVANCED SOLAR CAPACITY IN SPAIN

SolFocus technology has earned a lot of important recognition recently for a lesser-known type of advanced solar energy generation.

SolFocus uses advanced mirrors and optics to concentrate sunlight to 500 times its intensity on a small, highly efficient photovoltaic (PV) cell and produce significantly more electricity per cell.

The technology is not as well-known as the familiar rooftop panels or the fields of mirrors widely used in solar power plants. But the SolFocus concentrating PV concept was the first approved for safety and reliability by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

CEC/CPUC approval is more than a stamp of legitimacy, it makes the SolFocus installations eligible for California rebates.

SolFocus was also one of 11 Department of Defense (DoD) research projects awarded a grant in DoD's drvie to make solar energy cost-competitive with other grid electricity sources.

Footnote: Yesterday, the NewEnergyNews story was about Spanish and Portuguese companies building wind in the U.S. and today it’s about a U.S. company building sun in Spain. But look – the wind built by foreign companies here means U.S. jobs and manufacturing plants while the reverse applies to the solar installations in Spain.

Moral: New Energy grows globally and works locally.

From SolFocusInc Via YouTube.

SolFocus signs $103 million energy contractin Spain
November 3, 2008 (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal)
and
SolFocus inks $103M CPV deal in Spain
November 3, 2008 (Cleantech Group)

WHO
SolFocus, Inc.; EMPE Solar; Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC)

WHAT
SolFocus has completed a $103 million (€80 million) agreement with EMPE Solar to install more than 10 megawatts of its advanced solar technology in Spain.

The productive unit. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The SolFocus projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.
- SolFocus recently finished 2 utility-scale CPV projects for Spain’s Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC).
- In 2007, SolFocus raised $63 million in funding for its European and U.S. operations.
- SolFocus got $32 million in series A funding in October 2006.

WHERE
- The SolFocus installations will be at several sites across southern Spain.
- SolFocus is based in Mountain View, Calif.
- EMPE Solar is based in Madrid, Spain

WHY
- This agreement constitutes the biggest deployment of CPV technology in Europe.
- TheSolFocus CPV technology uses panels of small units. Each unit is a mirror that focuses sunlight on a higher-powered, smaller mirror that channels the sunlight through an “optical rod” onto a high-efficiency, multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) cell that transforms the maximum possible amount of the sunlight into electricity.
Installations have large enough capacities for commercial, industrial, and utility applications."
- The SolFocus mirror, advanced reflective optics and high-efficiency PV concentrate the sun 500 times.
- The concentration allows the rest of the panel to be lower-cost materials (glass and aluminum).

How SolFocus brings the LCOE down. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General, ISFOC: “SolFocus has done an excellent job of progressing its technology from R&D into commercially-ready product… initial results look excellent and validate our belief that the high-efficiency capability of CPV technology is going to provide high energy yields.”
- Mark Crowley, President, SolFocus: “Working with ISFOC has allowed us to deploy our technology faster and in a more supportive environment than would have otherwise been possible…and is evident in the excellent performance results demonstrated thus far by our product.”