Solar Millennium AG: HelioTrough collector awarded innovation prize by industry experts

• Majority of 650 CSP-Today conference attendees in San Francisco voted for HelioTrough in the innovation category
• Test results confirm the expected efficiency enhancement by 10 percent compared to predecessor design
  

San Francisco/Erlangen, 01 July 2010  At the end of June the participants of the 4th Concentrated Solar Power Conference in San Francisco voted for HelioTrough, the Solar Millennium Group's newest collector generation, for the award in the "CSP Innovation" category. The HelioTrough collector, which was developed by Flagsol GmbH, the joint venture between Solar Millennium AG and Ferrostaal AG, together with partners reduces costs by about 20 percent more than its predecessor Skal-ET due to its new design and special geometry. The cost reduction was achieved among others by an increase in efficiency level by some 10 percent over previous collector types. This is due in part to the fact that 99 percent of solar irradiation can now be reflected onto the absorber pipe (previously 95 percent). Since the end of 2009 the efficiency of the new collector has been in testing in an 800 meter long demonstration loop under real conditions in commercial operation in an American solar power plant.

The award was received by Uwe T. Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solar Trust of America (STA), the US American subsidiary within the Solar Millennium Group: "HelioTrough represents the future of parabolic trough technology and is to be used in all the power plant projects we are currently planning in California and Nevada. This technology brings the Solar Millennium Group's declared objective of making solar-thermal power plants competitive with fossil-fuel peak and medium-load power plants another step closer."

Dr. Wolfgang Knothe, Chief Executive Officer of Flagsol GmbH, adds: "Although we will not receive the final results of the performance tests before the end of the year, it is already clear today that HelioTrough has met all our expectations after the last six months of detailed measurements. In serial production it will be the most efficient parabolic trough collector on the market and thus support us when it comes to further expanding our leading position in this technology."

The early phase of the HelioTrough research and development project was supported by the Federal German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, while the demonstration project in California is supported by the US Department of Energy.

About Solar Millennium AG:
Solar Millennium AG, Erlangen, is an international company in the renewable energy sector, with its main focus on solar-thermal power plants. Together with its subsidiaries and associates, the Company specializes in parabolic trough power plants and has managed to take a globally leading position in this field. Solar Millennium strives to further extend its expertise in the area of solar-thermal power plants with the aim of achieving and securing sustainable technology leadership. As such, the Company covers all important business sectors along the value chain for solar-thermal power plants: from project development and financing to the technology and the turnkey construction and operation of power plants. In Spain, Solar Millennium developed Europe's first parabolic trough power plants and realized these together with partners. Additional projects are planned around the world with an overall capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts: here the current regional focus is on Spain, the US, India, China, the Middle East and North Africa.

About Solar Trust of America:
Solar Trust of America, LLC is an integrated industrial solutions company of solar thermal power plants The Company is a joint venture of the Solar Millennium Group (70%) and the MAN Ferrostaal Group (30%) and covers the entire value chain for solar thermal power plants in the region of North America. This includes the business segments of project development and financing, engineering, turn-key construction and operation of power plants. The American project development company Solar Millennium LLC, headquartered in Berkeley (California), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solar Trust of America.

About Flagsol GmbH:
Flagsol GmbH headquartered in Cologne, Germany, is technology provider and general contractor of parabolic trough power plants. The joint venture between Solar Millennium AG (74,9 percent) and Ferrostaal AG (25,1 percent) combines the skills of both parent companies in project development and construction of these solar power plants.Flagsol is continually developing parabolic troughs with research and development projects aimed at further consolidating their competitive advantage.

About solar-thermal power plant technology:
Solar-thermal power plants generate electricity by converting solar radiation into heat energy. In a parabolic trough power plant, trough-shaped mirrors concentrate the incidental radiation onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. Its absorption heats a fluid heat medium in the pipe, generating steam in the power block through a heat exchanger. As in conventional power plants, the steam powers a turbine to generate electricity. By integrating thermal storage, electricity can be supplied on demand, even after sunset.

About CSP Today:
CSP Today is the reference point for CSP professionals and a cornerstone for communications within the industry. CSP Today aims to provide the industry with focused news, events, reports, updates and information for the Concentrated Solar Thermal Power industry.

You can download the press release here.