Tata Power inks deal with Australian co for floating solar units

Tata Power has entered into a partnership with Australian solar power company Sunengy Pty Ltd that will allow the Australian company to build a pilot plant using its low-cost, floating (on water) solar technology in India by this year-end.

Tata Power's wholly owned Singapore-based subsidiary, Trust Energy, has picked up equity in Sunengy, but the details of this development were not made available.

The technology

The liquid solar array (LSA) technology effectively turns a dam into a very large battery, offering free solar storage and opportunity for improved water resource management. “Moreover, LSA needs no heavy materials or huge land acquisitions and is effectively cyclone proof,” said Mr Phil Connor, Sunengy Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer, also inventor of the technology.

The technology uses traditional concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology – a lens and a small area of solar cells that tracks the sun throughout the day, like a sunflower. Floating the LSA on water reduces the need for expensive supporting structures to protect it from high winds. The lenses submerge in bad weather and the water also cools the cells which increases their efficiency and life-span.

Mr Banmali Agrawala, Executive Director, Tata Power said “In our quest to deliver sustainable energy, Tata Power is consistently investing in clean and eco-friendly technologies. We have partnered with Sunengy for a pilot plant in India, which is concentrated photovoltaic solar technology and floats on water. This nascent technology will be demonstrated in natural environment; utilises the water surface for mounting and does not compete with land that can be used for other purposes.”

Sunengy Chairman and Executive Director of Business Development, Mr Peter Wakeman, said Tata Power has partnered Sunengy for its interest in its patented (LSA) technology.

Mr Wakeman said the primary objective for LSA is to provide industrial scale electricity via hydropower facilities. The technology could also be used at mining sites, villages and remote communities which are currently reliant on diesel generators.

Pilot plant

Construction of the pilot plant in India will commence in August 2011. Sunengy plans to establish a larger LSA system in the NSW Hunter Valley in mid-2012 before going into full production. Preliminary tests of units for India would be done at CSIRO Energy Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

Mr Connor said that when LSA is located on and combined with hydroelectric dams, it provides the breakthroughs of reduced cost and ‘on demand' 24/7 availability that are necessary for solar power to become widely used.

According to Mr Connor, hydropower supplies 87 per cent of the world's renewable energy and 16 per cent of the world's power but is limited by its water resources. LSA installations could match the power output of a typical hydro dam using less than 10 per cent of its surface area and supply an additional six to eight hours of power a day. Modelling by Sunengy shows that a 240 MW LSA system could increase annual energy generation at the Portuguese hydro plant, Alqueva, by 230 per cent.

“If India uses just one per cent of its 30,000 sq km of captured water with our system, we can generate power equivalent to 15 large coal-fired power stations,” he said.

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