SunCube™ Releases in USA
mambodancer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Colorado Firm Releases 31% Efficient SunCube CPV Module
Highest Efficiency Solar PV in the World
Helios Solar LLC in partnership with designer-integrator Vibrant
Solar, Inc, announced today the release of Helios Solar's SunCube™
Mark 9.2 module. Sales have begun with installations slated to begin
in Spring 2010. Vibrant will do all sales and installation in the
initial phase while Helios focuses on supply and building US factories
to produce the SunCube domestically.
The SunCube is 31% efficient, whereas the standard PV thin film and
flat panels have a 10% to 18.5% efficiency range. This means that
fewer solar modules are required, with a lot lower cost, to produce
enough electricity to power a home, commercial business, factory or
large power user, city, even a utility. Helios' VP Marketing & Sales
Mark Simmons noted "Other CPV modules have been announced but none
that we know of have near the efficiency of the SunCube."
The SunCube CPV uses technology which has been in satellites and
spacecraft for more than a decade. Emcore, in Albuquerque,
manufactures the triple junction gallium arsenide cells which are the
heart of the SunCube. These cells have three layers, converting the
visible light spectrum, infrared and ultraviolet. Silicon cells
convert only part of the visible spectrum. The chips are housed in a
highly specialized ground mounted dual axis tracking system,
optimizing the available sunlight, concentrating 1,370+ suns on the
chips. The result is about double the electrical output compared to
standard solar panels. Triple junction cells have a very high
tolerance to heat and produce power when silicon cells fail in the
heat. SunCube arrays could be placed in desert areas throughout the
southwestern USA where temperature prohibit standard PV panels.
The SunCube, developed by Australia's Green and Gold Energy Pty (GGE),
is licensed exclusively to Helios Solar LLC of Denver, for the
Southwestern USA and Hawaii. Until there are other American licensees
Helios can sell throughout the country. GGE's CEO and SunCube
developer Greg Watson and Deepak Kelkar, Managing Director of GGE's
India licensee Square Engineering were in Denver for two weeks of
consultation and planning at Vibrant's Denver office in December.
Helios is sharing space, given the shared ownership of the two firms,
until their factory is built. They completed installation of Helios'
demonstration array mid-December.
Helios' CEO President Scott VanKirk stated "I watched Green and Gold
develop from one inventor, Greg Watson, and one working model nearly
four years ago through his R&D facility opening in January 2008,
licensing to India then Spain, until they were ready for us." VanKirk
founded Helios in 2007 and awaited the time when GGE could supply the
American market.
Simmons, one of the Helios partners, stated "We recently quoted a
project for military base housing which required $14.6 million in
standard rooftop solar panels. Using SunCubes instead the project
only costs $9.1 million, for the same amount of electricity
production." Simmons estimates he and Vibrant's Director of Sales
Robert Quist have delivered proposals for over 3,000 Megawatts of
SunCubes thus far. Quist said "A lot of RFPs from government and
other non-profits are non-starters with the cost of standard solar
modules, but work economically with SunCubes." Vibrant has Leasing
and Power Purchase Agreement partners who can offer the product on a
10 to 25 year basis at very competitive power production rates– as low
as $.04/kWh when local or state incentives are available. This makes
it competitive with new coal plants, a cost parity essential for
renewables to eliminate coal.
The SunCube represents a paradigm shift, though, which requires some
educating. Most Requests for Proposal (RFPs) stipulate an array size
such as One Megawatt or, in the recent case of the Denver Public
Schools RFP, 100 Kilowatts of solar times 30 to 50 sites. "With
SunCubes," Simmons observed, "we have to ask "Do you want the output
of one megawatt of standard solar, about 1.4 million kilowatt hours
(kWh), which would only require 600 Kilowatts of SunCubes, or do you
want one megawatt of SunCube which outputs 2.5 million kWh?"
The SunCube requires half the acreage of standard solar ground arrays
per megawatt hour of production. It can be repaired and retrofitted in
the field. Emcore is already working on chips with 50% and higher
efficiency. The SunCube's plug and play feature allow it to keep up
with current chip technology. These and its obvious competitive
advantages give Helios' founders, ten local entrepreneurs, confidence
to move forward on plans to build the assembly plant.
VanKirk said a primary goal is to create American jobs, by hiring for
the assembly plant, by sourcing all parts locally, and by contracting
installation through Vibrant and its large array and civil engineering
partners. "The farthest we will need to go for parts supply is
Albuquerque" said VanKirk. He stressed that Helios is not yet ready
to receive resumes, saying "We are in the process of site selection,
while sales ramp up. We should start hiring in second quarter
2010."
Helios is planning to build one or more manufacturing plants in
Colorado and possibly more across the southwestern USA, to produce
these revolutionary solar modules. Until the Colorado plant is
opened, Helios is importing the SunCube from Square's ISO 9001
certified Satara, India plant. Each assembly line at the factory is
capable of producing 100 Megawatts of SunCubes per year, with capacity
of four lines, to produce 400 Megawatts per year. Vibrant Solar will
do all sales and installation for the near future.
VanKirk and Simmons have been meeting with Economic Development
Corporations and Colorado state officials in the process of site
selection for the first plant. An RFP to all EDCs and cooperative
groups along the Front Range will be sent out soon. Each assembly
line in the plant is expected to employ 180 staff directly and over a
thousand indirectly. Therefore the full factory can employ thousands,
in well-paid long term positions. This is the essence of sustainable
business.
An alliance between Helios and the only independent nuclear power
plant company in the USA is in the planning. Colorado commercial real
estate broker Thorne Davis, of Davis Company, with ex-State
Representative Dr. Juan Trujillo consulting, is spearheading the
effort to develop the Colorado Energy Park outside Pueblo, intending
20 Megawatts or more of SunCubes along with other renewable energy
producers plus a state of the art nuclear plant. But the client has
also requested and received a proposal for 2,000 MW of SunCubes per
3,400 MW nuclear plant. Now THAT is a solution for continued
greenhouse gas emissions.
Illustrations & Photos Available Upon Request
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mark Simmons
Vice President, Marketing & Sales
Vibrant Solar, Inc. & Helios Solar LLC
4321 Broadway Ste 3
Denver CO 80216-3500
Office 303-604-6696
Cell 720-985-8522
mark.s...@vibrantsolar.com
www.vibrantsolar.com
www.heliossolarcpv.com
SunCube™ is a trademark owned by Green and Gold Energy Pty., Ltd. Used
under exclusive license authority. All Rights Reserved.
--- end ---
Ecnerwal
Oh, this crap again. Is it actually for sale right this instant, or is
it just vaporware all over again like the last time - I forget, 3-5
years ago when it was "nearly there" for a year or two "we'll be taking
orders on date X", and then green and gold's website went away, etc,
etc...
--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Josepi
Looks about 2-3% efficient to me after considering the total space that real
PV panels could occupy.
Dozens of tracking mechanisms and cleaning the lenses every few weeks looks
like high maintenance. Good outerspace design, maybe.
Will mistracking light fires on my roof?
"mambodancer" <mkim...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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