SkyFuel unveils its solar SkyTrough

SkyFuel, Inc. hopes to thrive in the rapidly growing concentrating solar power (CSP) industry thanks to its recently unveiled SkyTrough(TM): according to the company, it is the highest performance, lowest cost utility-scale solar power system of any kind for generating electricity. With glass-free mirrors, a highly engineered space frame that allows compact transportation and rapid field assembly, and new more efficient drive & control systems, the SkyTrough(TM) will cut the cost of the parabolic trough concentrator by 35 percent compared to other commercially available systems. The SkyTrough(TM) is the solar collector system at the heart of several large solar thermal power plants currently planned for the southwestern United States.

The SkyTrough(TM) is 375 feet long, twenty feet tall, and features the largest parabolic trough modules ever built. It was developed with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and with a grant from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardon's Energy Innovation Fund for SkyFuel's research partnership with the University of New Mexico.

SkyFuel CEO, Dr. Arnold Leitner, and chief technology officer (CTO), Randy Gee, hosted a ceremonial unveiling and reception at SkyFuel's research & development center in Arvada to present the SkyTrough(TM) solar collector assembly. More than three hundred invited guests including power industry leaders, renewable energy financiers and government officials attended the event.

"SkyFuel has harnessed two of Colorado's greatest resources: our state's solar energy potential and our educated workforce. The company is a great example of how Colorado is building a new energy economy and becoming a national and international leader in renewable energy," said Colorado Governor, Bill Ritter.

The SkyTrough(TM) is a breakthrough design patterned after the best of the previous utility-scale parabolic troughs with several critical innovations that improve performance and significantly reduce cost. Chief among those improvements is the use of ReflecTech(R) Mirror Film: a low-cost, highly reflective and shatterproof silvered-polymer film, jointly designed by SkyFuel CTO, Randy Gee, and scientists at NREL to replace the expensive, heavy and fragile curved-glass mirrors, which are still used in all other parabolic trough designs used for electric power generation.

In the SkyTrough(TM), ReflecTech(R) Mirror Film is laminated to thin aluminum sheets to form light-weight, yet highly accurate mirror panels. This allows for larger and fewer panel segments than in previous trough designs that still use curved glass. In the SkyTrough(TM), ReflecTech(R) Mirror Film cuts mirror costs by approximately 50 percent compared to the price of using glass. ReflecTech(R) Mirror Film is also easily manufactured at high volume thus eliminating one bottleneck that has slowed the deployment of other solar power systems.

The SkyTrough(TM) space frame is another major advance in parabolic trough design. The all-aluminum tubular structure is 30 percent lighter per unit of mirror area than even the best of the previous utility-scale parabolic collectors -- a critical aspect in a world of rising commodity prices. The SkyTrough(TM) space frame has 40 percent fewer parts and requires no welding in the field resulting in significantly faster construction time and reduced labor costs. In addition, all ready-to-assemble components of the 375-foot long SkyTrough(TM) will fit onto one flat bed truck, an important advantage with transportation fuel costs on the rise.

For SkyFuel Chief Technology Officer, Gee, the SkyTrough(TM) is the culmination of three decades on the leading edge of solar power design. "I've had the privilege of working with many of the pioneers and great innovators in the solar industry," said Gee. "At SkyFuel we've built a team of CSP veterans and highly skilled innovators from other fields. The result is the best hardware in the solar power business."

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