Other renewables

Delta Installs 1.25 MW of SolFocus Concentrated Solar Power Photovoltaic (CPV) in Italy

 SolFocus (www.solfocus.com), with solar investor Sistema Solare (www.sistemasolare.eu), announced today completion of a 1.25 MW solar park in Italy. The solar park spans two sites in central Italy, one in Aveani and the other in Savini. These sites combine to form one of the largest Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) power plants in the country.

The CPV plants were developed and designed by Ren It (www.renit.it) and built by Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) company DELTA (www.deltalotus.it), which specializes in power plant development with a focus on renewable energy projects.

The SolFocus CPV technology deployed at the site, which was recently on display at Intersolar North America, utilizes a system of patented reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 650 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. The high-efficiency (30% efficient at converting sunlight to electricity) SolFocus SF-1100S systems feature dual-axis tracking for consistent energy delivery throughout the day, resulting in optimized kilowatt hour production. It also offers environmental benefits including no water usage for energy production, a small land footprint with dual use potential, and no permanent shadowing or wildlife corridor disruption. With a proven track record of on-sun field performance, SolFocus CPV technology serves as an ideal solution for the Italian market.

“Sistema Solare is currently progressing in the realization of CPV projects in Italy with a short-term target of another 10 MW, and together with the developer Ren It we are building a pipeline of approximately 100 MW in the Middle East and Latin American regions,” commented Francesco Marini, Chairman of Sistema Solare. “We looked at a number of CPV providers and felt that the SolFocus approach was the best fit for both the needs of these projects and the local environment,” added Lorenzo Verlicchi, Managing Director of Sistema Solare. The projects were executed under the 4th Conto Energia.

Construction of the sites started in late June 2012 and has just been completed. “We were pleased with the ease of installation of the systems, allowing us to execute on a very aggressive schedule,” said Loris Maroncelli, Chairman of Delta.

“Our partners Sistema Solare, Ren It and Delta have proven to be pioneers in deploying CPV in the country and we look forward to working with them on future projects as well,” said Mark Crowley, CEO of California-based SolFocus. SolFocus has other projects under construction in Italy at this time.