Cogenra Solar commissions its first commercial-scale hybrid solar PV, hot water system

[jpak]

http://www.solarserver.com/solar-magazine/solar-news/cu...

On November 5, 2010, Cogenra Solar Inc. (Mountain View, California, U.S.) announced the commissioning of a 272KW hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV) and thermal system produced by the company at a Northern California winery. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was among the guests at a commissioning ceremony at Sonoma Wine Company in Graton, California, for the company's first commercial-scale installation of the technology. "This is a very significant milestone for Cogenra as we bring our first project online in California’s wine country and toast to a bright future with solar cogeneration," said Cogenra CEO Dr. Gilad Almogy. "Cogenra’s technology merges the best photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies to meet two valuable industrial needs, low cost heat and electricity. Our solution produces five times more energy and three times the greenhouse gas reductions over traditional solar offerings."

Cogenra system converts waste heat to power

The Cogenra system uses rows of curved mirrors, not unlike parabolic trough concentrating solar power (CSP) systems, however unlike these systems the Cogenra system concentrates sunlight onto solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and a water delivery system. Cogenra says that this design captures the waste heat from the photovoltaic system, allowing it to utilize 80% of the energy contained in sunlight, far more than any form of photovoltaic (PV) technology. Cogenra notes that this system also improves the efficiency of the PV modules by keeping them at lower temperatures.

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