Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) have set a new world record for solar power generating efficiency.
On Jan. 31 of this year, scientists testing a new solar dish system at Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, set an efficiency record of 31.25 percent, compared to the previous high of 29.4 percent set in 1984.
Solar energy efficiency compares the amount of actual electrical power generated to the total amount of solar energy striking the solar dish system.
“Gaining two whole points of conversion efficiency in this type of system is phenomenal,” said Bruce Osborn, president and CEO of SES. “This is a significant advancement that takes our dish engine systems well beyond the capacities of any other solar dish collectors and one step closer to commercializing an affordable system.”
Sandia and SES attribute the latest achievement to a combination of improved optics, more effective radiators and generators, and the good fortune of perfect — in terms of solar power — weather on the test date at Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“It was a ‘perfect storm’ of sorts,” said Chuck Andraka, lead Sandia project engineer. “We set the record on Jan. 31, a very cold and extremely bright day, a day eight percent brighter than normal.”
SES says it is now moving forward with plans to commercialize the improved solar power system, which it calls the “SunCatcher.” It has already signed purchase agreements with Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric for up to 1,750 megawatts of power.
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Shirley Siluk Gregory
Shirley Siluk Gregory, a transplanted Chicagoan now living in Northwest Florida, represents the progressive half of Green Options' Red, Green and Blue segment. She holds a bachelor's degree in Geological Sciences from Northwestern University but graduated in 1984, just when the market for geologists was flatter than the Florida landscape. Just as well, though: she had little interest in spending her life either in a laboratory or, heaven forbid, an oil field. So, of course, she went into journalism. After extremely low-paying but fun and educational stints at several suburban Chicago weeklies and dailies, Shirley and her then-boyfriend/now-husband Scott found themselves displaced by a media buyout and spending the next several years working as freelancers. Among their credits: The Chicago Tribune, a publication for the manufactured-housing industry, and Web Hosting Magazine, a now-defunct publication that came and went with the dotcom era. Shirley's always been concerned about nature and conservation (and an avid pack-rat, as her family can attest to), but became even more rabidly interested in the environment primarily due to two factors: the growing signs that global warming was real and threatening, and the birth of her son, Noah, in 2003. Suddenly, the prospect of a world that might not be quite as habitable in 40 or 50 years took on a whole new, and personal, meaning. Living where she lives now also helped light the fire of Shirley's environmental awareness: her hometown was severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and beaten up again by Hurricane Dennis in 2005. That, and the fact that she and her family were vacationing in New Orleans until the day before Katrina -- and spent 12 hours driving home for a trip that normally takes 3 -- has made Shirley deeply appreciate how fragile our lifestyles are, and how dependent they are on sound management of natural resources and sustainable living practices. That's why she's become a passionate reader and writer about all things green and sustainable.
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