Solar Thermal: The Next Generation

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-thermal-the-next-generation/

Michael Kanellos 03 29 10

Solar Thermal: The Next Generation

The industry is getting standardized but new concepts continue to bubble up.

Last year we wrote an article http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-thermal-which-technology-is-best-6091/">comparing the four main solar thermal technologies: towers, troughs, Stirling dishes and flat plate reflectors.

Those four concepts still lead the industry and it has evolved pretty much as most have predicted. Companies with towers and heliostats such as BrightSource Energy and eSolar lined up a number of deals in the past year although they've had to face questions about environmental impact and financing.

Stirling system advocates have signed fewer deals in the past year, but have continued to make progress. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/stirling-solar-goes-commercial/">Stirling Solar recently planted 60 of its systems on a 1.5 megawatt power plant. Meanwhile, Ausra, one of the flat plate leaders, experienced a somewhat moribund 2009. Then early this year it http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ausra-gets-bought-by-areva/">got bought recently by Areva.

Since then, a whole host of new ideas for converting the heat from the sun have begun to percolate up and in part it's a result of the way solar thermal functions. Photovoltaic panels are semiconductors: progress thus is controlled by device physics. Solar thermal systems are inherently mechanical. The variety is endless. Most of these are still in the experimental stage, but they bear watching. Like last year, solar thermal will be http://www.greentechmedia.com/events/live/greentech-medias-solar-summit-2010/agenda/">one of the primary topics at our 2010 Solar Summit taking place March 30 and 31 in Phoenix.

...

(Read the article for a number of descriptions of new designs.)

[roody]

1. I am installing my warm floor this year!

Solar heated warm floor.