Australian concentrated solar PV tech gets USD 3.8m in govt support

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on Thursday announced AUD 4.8 million (USD 3.8m/EUR 3.2m) in funding to help RayGen Resources Pty Ltd commercialise its concentrated solar photovoltaic (PV) tehcnology.

The support, part of a AUD-9.6-million equity raising effort from the Victoria company, will go towards the construction of a 0.5-MW demonstration project near Newbridge in Victoria that will power a local mushroom farm. There will also be upgrades to a scaleable manufacturing plant to support the installation of RayGen's technology in two initial projects in China with a combined capacity of 11 MW.

RayGen completed a 200-kW pilot project at Newbridge last year with ARENA assistance. The technology, called PV Ultra, consists of a field of mirrors that track the sun and send a concentrated light beam to an array of high-efficiency PV modules located in a tower‐mounted receiver.

According to an ARENA blog article, the technology holds the promise of being significantly more efficient and lower cost than traditional PV.

"ARENA is committed to helping Australian companies create new renewable energy technology and export it to the world which RayGen is doing in China," said ARENA chief executive Ivor Frischknecht.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.782/EUR 0.664)

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