The move comes as SkyFuel gears up for a new phase of commercial growth and expands their manufacturing capability to meet industry demand for the SkyTrough®.
Since its inception in 2007, SkyFuel has maintained two locations: a business office in Albuquerque, New Mexico to be close to prime CSP real estate, and a Research & Development center in Jefferson County, Colorado to be close to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and the testing and expertise it provides.
As the company prepares to expand their manufacturing capacity in Colorado, it was logical to consolidate the two offices. The new arrangement fosters greater communication between the two sides of the business and reinforces the collaborative culture of the company. “Colorado is fertile ground for clean energy companies like SkyFuel. And now with everyone in the same office, the design engineers can help the commercialization team and vice versa,” said SkyFuel’s CEO Rick LeBlanc.
Jefferson Economic Council (JEC) is a public/private not]for]profit that works to increase quality employment in Jefferson County. SkyFuel made the announcement at JEC’s luncheon to underscore the importance of bringing the business development team to Colorado.
“We are particularly pleased to welcome companies developing their investments in clean energy,” said JEC’s Acting President, Michelle Claymore. “SkyFuel has plans to expand their workforce as they scale up manufacturing, and we’re ready to help in every way we can.”
SkyFuel’s subsidiary, ReflecTech, Inc., produces ReflecTech® Mirror Film ] a high reflectance, low cost silverized polymer film designed to replace the fragile and heavy glass mirrors used in parabolic trough solar collectors.
In January of 2010, ReflecTech was awarded a manufacturing tax credit authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to expand their mirror panel facility, also located in Jefferson County.
SkyFuel, Inc. is a solar thermal power technology and service provider founded in 2007. SkyFuel solar collectors harness solar radiation to produce steam for electricity generation and industrial applications. SkyFuel offers an advanced, glass]free parabolic trough solar thermal collector, called the SkyTrough®.
Utility-grade Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems collect and concentrate solar radiation then use that heat to produce steam for generating electricity. All CSP systems use a collector with a highly reflective surface usually consisting of curved mirrors and/or many angled flat mirrors (to approximate curvature) which reflect and focus the solar radiation onto an absorber, also called a receiver. Running through the receiver is a heat transfer medium (usually a fluid) which in a CSP electricity generating plant transmits the thermal energy from the collectors to a steam generator. The steam is then used to drive a conventional turbine to generate electricity.
SkyFuel focuses on "line-concentrating" technologies including our parabolic trough concentrator/collector called the SkyTrough® and our linear Fresnel system called the Linear Power Tower™.
A critical and valuable feature of CSP systems, particularly when compared to photovoltaic (PV) systems, is the ability of CSP systems to store heat for power generation at a future time when the sun will not be available.
It is the highest performance, lowest]cost utility]scale Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) system in the world. SkyFuel’s wholly owned subsidiary, ReflecTech, Inc., holds the exclusive license to manufacture and market ReflecTech® Mirror Film (www.ReflecTechSolar.com). SkyFuel is also developing next]generation, hightemperature parabolic trough and linear Fresnel systems.
