by Jbs011409 a3 — January 16, 2009—The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is testing a new solar dish that it says looks like a giant funhouse mirror but could be a renewable energy breakthrough that helps make concentrated solar power more affordable and appealing to utilities and their customers.
For the next several months, NREL engineers will be testing the performance of SkyTrough, a parabolic trough that is coated with a gleaming reflective skin instead of mirrored glass, atop South Table Mountain.
The SkyTrough was developed by SkyFuel, an Albuquerque-based manufacturer with a research facility near NREL in Arvada, CO. The unit’s lightweight glass-free mirrors are made of sheet metal beneath ReflecTech mirror film.
This highly-reflective, silver-metalized film, a joint invention of NREL and ReflecTech, is reportedly lighter and less expensive than the breakable glass mirrors that are traditionally used. The glossy laminate is comprised of multiple layers of polymer films with an inner layer of pure silver to provide for a highly reflective surface that also protects the silver layer from oxidation
NREL engineers say it is unlike any parabolic trough design used so far. Typically, a parabolic trough operates at nearly 80 percent optical efficiency, and SkyFuel expects its design to function at least as well, while being less expensive to manufacture, transport, and maintain.
The NREL tests will not include actual electricity generation because that step in the process uses conventional steam turbine technology. But it is that hybrid combination of the renewable and the conventional that reportedly makes CSP appealing to utilities as a source of cleaner bulk power during peak and intermediate load periods.
