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Practical Instruments, a provider of high-performance concentrating rooftop solar panels, has been awarded $4 million from the U.S. Dept. of Energy's (DOE) Technology Pathway Partnerships (TPP) program, said department officials. The company will use the funding to accelerate the evolution of its Heliotube product platform, a high-efficiency, low-cost concentrating solar panel optimized for the rooftop.
The award is a part of the DOE's $168 million Solar America Initiative (SAI), which aims to dramatically drive down the cost of solar energy technologies.
Led by CEO and former NASA chief architect Brad Hines, Practical Instruments has taken a market-driven approach to solar technology: combining the industry-accepted form factor of a solar panel with the high-performance benefits of concentrating solar technology. The result is an easy-to-install, low-cost solar system that is optimized for the rooftop, initially targeting the needs of commercial building owners.
To meet the SAI's aggressive PV goals, Practical Instruments has partnered with four industry leaders: Spectrolab, SunEdison, Sandia National Laboratories, and MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. Raed Sherif, Spectrolab's General Manager of Terrestrial PV Products said, "We are very excited to be part of Practical Instruments' next generation concentrating solar panel development. Their innovative platform, with its traditional flat panel configuration, is a great vehicle to take Spectrolab's 40% efficient cells to the rooftop-- today's largest solar market."
SunEdison, North America’s largest solar energy service provider, joined the team in order to be able to assess the benefits of this technology at the earliest opportunity. "SunEdison Labs, as SunEdison's research and development department, is dedicated to identifying, evaluating and deploying the best technologies available,”said Jigar Shah, SunEdison CEO.
"We look forward to continued collaboration with our four proven industry partners, as together we build on the capabilities of Heliotube and bring the first in a series of concentrating solar panel products to market later this year," said Brad Hines, president and CEO of Practical Instruments, in a statement.
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Spencer Chin is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
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