Continuous further development

A wide market acceptance of solar thermal power plants requires further increases in the overall efficiency of a power plant as well as cost reductions. Reaching this goal requires an investment in further development of the technology.

The research and development work at Solarlite focuses on the following tasks:

• CO₂-free energy production of electricity, heat and refrigeration
• Maximising the use of solar energy through combined heat and power or using surplus heat, e.g. for seawater desalination or generation of absorption cooling in air conditioning systems
• Due to the GRP materials and its manufacturing strategy, Solarlite is cheaper than other suppliers of CSP plants and is working on further potential cost reductions that have already been identified
• According to current information, Solarlite is the only supplier of plants between 2 MWe and 100 MWe, particularly for solar combined heat and power generation: in many cases, the size of the plants suits the energy requirements of commercial and small industrial customers. Until now there has been a dependency on fossil energy sources in this capacity range. Solarlite intends to strengthen and build on its market-leading position in this area.

Current

Solarlite is placing emphasis on the improvement and automation of the production process for parabolic troughs. In this respect, the company is following the strategy of further reducing the panel price per square metre. This goal will be achieved with the aid of new manufacturing processes, using new materials or material combinations.

Research projects

Our current and completed research projects are presented on the Projects page.

Research partners

In the area of research and development the company is focusing on strong, long-term partnerships and cooperation.