United Sun Systems licences thermal energy storage tech from Savannah River National Lab
February 9, 2018
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United Sun Systems and the CEO Lars Jacobsson has signed an exclusive license agreement on a high-temperature, metal hydride-based thermal energy storage technology for concentrating solar power, with Savannah River National Laboratory.
The technology is based on metal hydride materials that efficiently store thermal energy in the form of chemical bonds and then release that energy when the sun is not available, ten times more efficient compared to latent and sensible heat storage technologies. The thermal battery will be able to store the energy for more than 100 years with a minimum of energy losses.
The development of the metal hydride thermal energy storage system or thermal battery was supported through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office under the Concentrating Solar Power Program that is focused on advancing solar technologies that can reach of target of $0.06 per kilowatt hour.
It is expected that within a few years, the new system will be commercially available to produce and distribute electricity 24/7/365 at prices that are expected to be up to 95% cheaper than current photo voltaic systems in combination with lithium-ion batteries and competitive to fossil fuels.
“By using our unique expertise, we have been able to develop an inexpensive way to store solar energy that makes this renewable energy source cost competitive with fossil fuels,” said Dr. Terry A. Michalske, Laboratory Director, Savannah River National Laboratory. “We are pleased to be partnering with United Sun Systems and to share our innovation with the solar industry”.
“This exclusive license agreement will allow us to deploy large scale solar energy production capacity that will revolutionize the industry. Together with our gas hybrid solution it will supply 24/7 guaranteed electricity distribution, 365 days per year,” said Lars Jacobsson, Chief Executive Officer and founder of United Sun Systems.
“With this technology we will create the much anticipated and needed change in future energy production, away from fossil fuels”.
The USS solar energy technology is called “Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Dish Stirling – CSP Dish-Stirling,” and is based on a fourteen (14) meter in diameter parabolic dish covered with glass mirrors, that reflects and focuses the solar rays to create temperatures of 750 degrees Celsius.
This concentrated energy will be stored in the company’s new thermal battery. The battery powers a heat engine (Stirling Engine) that creates electricity through a generator.
The system is provided with a “gas hybrid” to guarantee electricity production during longer periods of solar interruptions and the possibility to create independent grids.
The technology is scalable from one system, that can generate power up to eleven American homes, to hundreds or thousands of systems that could generate power for larger cities, states or countries – cheaper than fossil fuels.
United Sun Systems (USS) is a Swedish and UK based company with an American subsidiary acting out from The Nordic Innovation House in Palo Alto, California. USS was formed in 2010 with the ambition to supply the global market with the most optimal CSP Dish-Stirling solution. USS and its associates have been involved in the creation and development of more than 80 percent of all CSP Dish-Stirling projects since the 1970s.
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