SkyFuel
SkyFuel is a designer and provider of thermal concentrating solar power (CSP) equipment for utility scale power generation and industrial applications of steam. Energy from thermal CSP plants can be stored for later use and deliver electricity matched to the load profile of the utility company. SkyFuel has two commercially available products – a parabolic trough concentrating solar collector (the SkyTrough) and a high reflectance silverized polymer film (ReflecTech). The SkyTrough is the first utility scale solar concentrator to use polymer reflectors rather than glass mirrors. The use of the polymer mirror allows the reflector to be made as one continuous large panel, which is lighter than glass mirrors and therefore the support frame can also be lighter. The SkyTrough system can be deployed in a stand-alone configuration for utility-scale electricity generation. It can also be integrated with fossil fuel power plants, such as natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants, to augment or displace some of the host plant’s steam production or, in the case of traditional coal plants, to provide feed-water heating. SkyTrough systems are also ideally suited for industrial process heat applications and sea-water desalination. SkyFuel is also developing next-generation, high-temperature parabolic trough and linear Fresnel systems.[1]
Grants and innovations
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded SkyFuel a $435,000 grant to develop its Linear Power Tower (LPT) system for utility-scale solar thermal power plants. The LPT is a high-temperature linear Fresnel system.
See also
- Concentrating solar power
- Solar power
- List of solar thermal power stations
- List of concentrating solar thermal power companies
