Skyline Solar of Mountain View is set to announce Tuesday it has broken ground on two 100-kilowatt solar power plants at domestic military bases -- Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California and Fort Bliss in Texas.
Skyline's contract from the Department of Defense is worth a modest $1.85 million, but the company hopes it will go a long way toward proving its product. Many Silicon Valley cleantech startups regard the military as an ideal early adopter, willing to take risks on new technologies that need to be tested in the field before they can be fully commercialized.
Skyline's contract was awarded under the Defense Department's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, which aims to identify technologies that have the highest potential for widespread deployment. Soladigm, based in Milpitas, and Cogenra Solar of Mountain View have also been awarded contracts under the program.
The Department of Defense has about 300,000 buildings on its installations and spends nearly $4 billion a year on the energy needed to operate them. It is searching for clean technologies that can be standardized and installed at military bases throughout the world.
"The Skyline Solar Project has the potential to make a significant impact on the use of solar energy by the Department of Defense," James Galvin, the department's acting program manager for energy and water, said in a statement.
Skyline is one of several solar startups using
CPV technology, or concentrated photovoltaics, to concentrate the sun's energy onto photovoltaic cells. It differs from standard rooftop solar panels in that is uses an optical system to focus sunlight onto each cell. Skyline's X14 System is named for its ability to concentrate sunlight 14 times using glass reflectors.Skyline's systems work best where the sun shines brightly and humidity is low -- in the American Southwest, northern Mexico, the Middle East and Australia. The two small military installations, each of which will generate enough electricity to power about 20 homes, will provide data about how Skyline's technology performs in different climates.
"The DoD has big eyes for solar, and Skyline being selected gives us instant credibility," said Tim Keating, Skyline's vice president of marketing.
Both projects are expected to be completed by April. Skyline will not be required to submit its plans to a lengthy environmental review process because much of the land on military bases has already been disturbed by vehicle traffic or munitions explosions.
Skyline's CPV technology is already installed in the tiny Mojave Desert town of Nipton, which uses the solar arrays for most of the town's electricity needs. Skyline's largest installation to date is a 500-kilowatt CPV plant in Durango, Mexico, enough to power about 100 homes.
Edwards Air Force Base, east of Rosamond, is in a remote area. Fort Bliss, home to the 1st Armored Division, is in El Paso, Texas, and spans more than 1 million acres of land in west Texas and New Mexico. It is one of several bases moving forward with plans to be "net zero," which means it will consume only as much energy as it generates.
Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19711039?source=rss
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