by Shane Henson — December 21, 2012—SolarX Energy, a New York-based company that manufactures, distributes and installs high-efficiency solar products, has added the SolarX Hybrid to its list of solar energy solutions.
According to the company, the SolarX Hybrid is expected to raise the bar on solar-generated clean energy by coupling thermal (hot water) production output of more than 100,000 British thermal units (BTUs) per day with electrical power production of up to 1.0 kilowatt per day.
The new system combines the features of the company’s patented SolarX-164 parabolic solar thermal collector with peripherally mounted photovoltaic (PV) panels, which generate electrical power by instantaneously converting solar radiation into electricity, explains SolarX Energy. SolarX’s SunHound tracking device precisely follows the sun’s position for maximum solar efficiency and output. With its proprietary tracking system, the Hybrid’s PV panels are capable of increasing electrical production by more than 25 percent over traditional fixed PV tracking, the company says.
In addition to promising cost savings for government, commercial and institutional operations, the unit is a stand-alone energy system for remote areas—a welcome relief for such diverse off-the-grid operations as agricultural sites and third-world hospitals, notes SolarX Energy. The PV panels produce enough energy to power the system’s tracking motor, and the excess electric power production can be used or fed back into the grid.
The SolarX Hybrid can be scaled to fit site needs, servicing differing loads, producing steam for manufacturing facilities, solar cooling for commercial sites, and electrical power to supplement grid load. Installed along a north-south axis, the system tracks the sun from dawn in the east to dusk in the west.
