Intelligence Brief

Sunlight Direct shifts its focus, gears up for CPV technology

25 November 2008

Sunlight Direct has largely abandoned its solar lighting product in favour of a concentrated photovoltaic technology that uses the Sunlight Direct's rooftop solar collector and tracking system to generate power rather than transmit light.
 
According to Knoxville News Sentinel, as the company lives off a nearly $1 million received last year, it's in talks about a potential acquisition to further develop the technology.
 
The company's SolarPoint Power system uses the SolarPoint Platform to concentrate sunlight onto a specialised photovoltaic module that produces a peak power output of 500W per system. The system is designed to be installed easily onto a post on a building roof or on the ground by installers with only minimal training. Arrays of the SolarPoint Power system allow customers to size their power output as needed (500W to 5MW or more), according to the company. 
 
The system includes a roof- or ground-mounted solar concentrator that tracks and aligns a 1.5m diameter parabolic mirror with the sun. At the focus of the mirror, a small CPV cell array converts direct sunlight into electricity with a target efficiency of approximately 35 percent—resulting in a peak output of 500 Watts, says the company. In the base of the system, an embedded, grid-tied DC-to-AC inverter provides a 120V AC output that can be plugged (or wired) directly into the grid through any existing AC outlet—getting power directly to the consumer.
 
In 2009, a beta-version of the product will be made available to customers in the US interested in demonstrating 50kW or more of capacity, says the company.
 
The report added that Sunlight Direct is installing photovoltaic demonstration units at San Diego Gas and Electric and will soon install a 100-unit collector system at the nearby Miramar Marine air base. It is seeking a partner or buyer for the company.