Australian solar power company Sunengy Pty Ltd has
entered into a partnership with India's largest
integrated private power utility, Tata Power that will
allow it build a pilot plant for its low-cost, floating-on-water,
solar technology in India this year. Construction of the pilot
plant in India will commence in August 2011.
Sunengy Chairman and Executive Director of Business
Development, Peter Wakeman, said that Tata Power, a flagship
company of Tata Group, has partnered with Sunengy for its
interest in its patented Liquid Solar Array (LSA) technology.
Wakeman said the deal was significant for the future use of
solar globally because it allows Sunengy to demonstrate the
practicality of its technology in one of the world's most
promising solar power markets.
The LSA was invented by Phil Connor, Sunengy Executive
Director and Chief Technology Officer and a passionate
advocate for solar power for 45 years. Connor said that when
located on and combined with hydroelectric dams, LSA
provides the breakthroughs of reduced cost and 'on demand'
24/7 availability that are necessary for solar power to become
widely used. The LSA uses traditional Concentrated
Photovoltaic (CPV) technology-a lens and a small area of solar
cells that tracks the sun throughout the day, like a sunflower.
Floating the LSA on water reduces the need for expensive
supporting structures to protect it from high winds. The lenses
submerge in bad weather and the water also cools the cells
which increases their efficiency and life-span. According to
Connor, hydropower supplies 87 percent of the world's
renewable energy and 16 percent of the world's power but is
limited by its water resource. He said an LSA installation could
match the power output of a typical hydro dam using less than
10 percent of its surface area and supply an additional six to
eight hours of power per day. "LSA effectively turns a dam into
a very large battery, offering free solar storage and opportunity
for improved water resource management," Connor said.
"If India uses just one percent of its 30,000 square
kilometers of captured water with our system, we can
generate power equivalent to 15 large coal-fired power
stations," Connor noted.
Banmali Agrawala, Executive Director, Tata Power said "In
our quest to deliver sustainable energy, Tata Power is
consistently investing in clean and eco-friendly technologies.
We have partnered with Sunengy, Australia for a pilot plant in
India, which is concentrated photovoltaic solar technology
that floats on water. This nascent technology will be
demonstrated in the natural environment; it utilises the water
surface for mounting and does not compete with land that can
be used for other purposes."
Wakeman said that the primary market for LSA is the
provision of industrial scale electricity via hydropower
facilities. Other markets include mining sites as well as villages
and remote communities reliant on diesel power generators.
Sunengy plans to establish a larger LSA system in NSW Hunter
Valley in mid 2012 before going into full production.