SolFocus Builds the First Phase of the Spanish Solar Plant

SolFocus, a venture that designs and builds solar photovoltaic concentration, said this week that they have completed the first phase of a 200-kilowatt system of 3 MW in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. The solar plant, which said SolFocus is the first photovoltaic system to concentrate on a commercial scale, it belongs to the Spanish Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC). It produces clean energy and act as testing for various solar PV technologies.

The concentration of solar PV is a newer technology compared to solar photovoltaic and solar thermal plants that use solar heat to produce energy. Plants using photovoltaic concentration systems, with lenses and curved mirrors, to target cells and produce more power with less material.

In the case of SolFocus, the venture said that its technology allows a concentration cell of a square centimeter capture more than 500 square centimeters of sunlight. This deployment will reduce the number of panels used, which can profoundly reduce the cost of the system; SolFocus says it uses 0.1 percent of the solar cell material required by the standard PV.

The venture, based in Mountain View, California and its sister company SolFocus Europe, in Madrid, is helping with more systems as the ISFOC plant. It is said that in September the two years old company, looked to add between $ 60 and $ 80 million in a Series C. The company was founded with $ 95 million by New Enterprise Associates, Moser Baer India, David Gelbaum, MetaSystem Group, NGEN Partners and Yellowstone Capital.

Soon, the company will begin working on the ISFOC project’s second phase, increasing its total capacity to 500 kW.