Date: Sep 09, 2010 Author: Kyle Alspach Source: Mass High Tech (
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Wilson Solarpower Corp., which is working to make concentrated solar power competitive with coal power, has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the company said Thursday.
The Woburn-based company plans to use the money to increase the efficiency of its concentrated solar power system, which uses mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy and capture the energy as heat in a "power tower." The air heated through the process then drives a turbine to produce electricity.
Most CSP systems heat water instead of air, Wilson officials said. But water can be a major hindrance because it's not always available in the sunny areas, such as the desert, that are ideal for CSP technology, the executives said.
The system can run around the clock because the power tower can also burn backup fuels, such as natural gas, when the sun is not shining, according to the company.
Based on all of these factors, the Department of Energy "believes our system has a shot at displacing coal," said Wilson president Bruce Anderson in an interview.
The new grant comes from the DOE's Small Business Innovation Research program and is the second phase of a project to improve the efficiency of Wilson's CSP system. The first phase started last December with a $250,000 grant.
Anderson and company CEO Doug Zingale said the project will focus on redesigning the system's turbine for higher efficiency.
The executives said there are two paths that could get the company's technology to the point of being cost competitive with coal. The first is for the company to bring its current systems into mass production, which would drive the costs down, Zingale said. Production of 1,000 megawatts of power from the systems would likely allow the company to reach coal parity, he said.
The second option is to reach the goal of higher efficiency for the systems. Either path is expected to take about five years, according to Wilson executives.
Wilson Solarpower plans to break ground on a one-acre pilot operation by the end of the year in Las Vegas, Nev., and intends to start operations there by late 2011, the executives said.
The company expects to move into commercialization a few months later in the first quarter of 2012, with systems ready to be installed for customers.
Wilson has received $9.5 million in private investment - including $500,000 from large unnamed corporations - and $500,000 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the company executives said.
In May, the DOE awarded Wilson Solarpower a $3.7 million grant over five years to develop the second generation of the technology. The grant announced Thursday is funding the third generation of the technology.
The company changed its name from Wilson TurboPower Inc. and appointed Zingale, a veteran of several large law firms, in July. The company will have a staff of 20 to 25 employees this fall, a figure which has more than doubled over the past year, company executives said.
