Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is an emerging market that is proving to be the number one choice for large scale solar power plants worldwide. Projects here in the United States include plants that have been in operation in California (354 MW) and Nevada (64 MW), plants under construction, such as the one in Hawaii (1 MW), and officially announced plants in Arizona (280 MW) and New Mexico and additional plants in California (533 MW). Worldwide projects are in Spain (70 MW) and Australia (50 MW), as well as Algeria (25 MW) and Morocco (25 MW) with many more to come.

 

Solar Solutions is bringing CSP to Utah... but not industrial-sized power plants; rather, to businesses, farmers and residents. We will scale-down the technology to size our solar power systems to meet the needs of Utahans and allow them to generate their own energy and send the excess power back to the grid.

 

A mirror exposed to the sun's radiation focuses the sun's rays onto a central receiver. As a result, the receiver heats to several hundred degrees. The heat is then used to make steam to power a steam turbine and make electricity. There several forms of CSP and Solar Solutions has opted to use solar troughs. In our system, the mirror (reflector) is shaped like a trough. A pipe (absorber tube) is placed at the focal point of the trough so that the sun's rays are reflected onto it. The pipe is filled with a liquid that travels inside the solar field piping to a heat exchanger where steam is made to run a turbine and generate power.

 

 

Since heat is obtained, we can do more that just make electricity with it. We can also:

1. Provide heat for a house or commercial building. Having a CSP system can also target your gas bill as well as your electric bill. We can supply the heat to the furnace so that natural gas need not be burned.

2. Provide hot water. The CSP system can interface with your water heaters to provide hot water.

3. Make Air conditioning. Although it may sound counter intuitive, the heat can be used to make air conditioning, lowering your electric bill even more when your air conditioner runs off heat and not solely electric current.

4. Water Desalination. Solar Solutions is very unique with this technology. We can use the heat generated by the sun to clean water to federal drinking standards. This includes, ocean water, ground water, and even water from the Great Salt Lake.

 

Influence the color of your business, home, or farm: Go Green! Supply your own energy needs with the energy from the sun.

Make your own electricity and sell the excess to the power company.

Cut your electric demand and lower your summertime energy usage by air conditioning with heat obtained from the sun.

Lower your gas bill for heating and hot water by using the sun's heat.

Obtain fresh water from the Great Salt Lake by desalination and then use the fresh water to maintain vegetation, irrigate or sell.

 

In order to provide you with estimated costs and system details, we will need several pieces of information.

The first and most important is to size your electric demand. We will need to know how much electricity you are currently drawing from the power company. One easy way to supply us with this information is to send us copies of your electric bills from the last few months. Also, it is helpful to know how many tons of Air Conditioning you are currently depending on to keep cool.

Secondly, we need a geographical area to consider for the location of the system. We will need to know how much of it is available, the dimensions, etc. For example, a 20 acre parcel could get you around 4,000 KW of power. Also, if you have flat roofs that are structurally sound, we can mount the system on the roof if it becomes apparent that this option is advantageous.

It will help us if you can provide us with information about how you are currently heating the buildings... boiler or furnace, etc. And copies of your gas bills will be helpful as well.

Is your business seasonal or does it operate year round? Let us know how we can get you on your way to eliminating your dependence on fossil fuels!