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PRIVATE EQUITY RESEARCH
Mark T. Cox MBA, Analyst [email protected]
347 850 7733
Most recent price paid $0.30
Pre‐Market Cap @ $3.00 $5.3 million
Management Control 75%
Fiscal Year End: Dec 31st
Shares Outstanding: 16.469 million
Options 1.280 million
Fully diluted shares 17.749 million
Projected margins 35%
IP Portfolio consists of 29 Patents
Incorporated in the US
Chinese Subsidiary based in Beijing
Demonstration unit/factory in Tianjin
Sector: Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
Thermal Energy Storage (TES)
NEF ADVISORS LLC June 1, 2011
“Bottled Sunshine”
Solar & Environmental Technology Corporation, Inc. (SETC) designs and manufactures concentrated solar thermal (CSP) equipment. Parabolic mirror dishes generate high temperature (1,000°C) thermal energy stored using air and inert, ceramic storage. The technology offers economic, reliable, multi‐day storage well in excess of any competing alternative today. This development overcomes the intermittency of solar power from photovoltaic (PV) and other CSP providers and means that fossil fuel back up is no longer required for intermittent renewable energy sources. SETC’s equipment itself, can function as “spinning reserve” to intermittent wind and solar. It is already in the field and is attracting serious global contract interest from states, municipalities and electrical utilities this year. Highlights – Bottled Sunshine • Demonstrated ‘on demand’ electricity generation • Ceramic thermal storage yields almost infinite low cost cycles • Uses air and ceramics for storage economics • High temperatures result in higher energy density • Thermal media needed at 1,000 °C is much less than at 400 °C • Parabolic troughs operate at 400 °C, dishes over 1,000 °C • Dishes can concentrate the sun over 16,000 times • Higher temperatures lead to higher efficiencies • Capacity factor over 8,000 hours (91%) per year vs. ~2,500 for PV • Very ‘under the radar’ evolution of this CSP configuration • Builds on longest CSP experience since the early 1970’s • Highest solar energy yield per square meter • Ideal for offsetting the grid intermittency of wind or normal solar • Ideal for off grid remote applications such as islands or mines • Large market demand for a renewable energy storage solution • IHS expects installations of 17 Gigawatts per year by 2015 • Salts and oil do not operate well at high temperatures • No fossil fuels and optionally, only limited water required • Only a small market share will lead to a large shareprice
SOLAR & ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES CORP. IPO 2012
NEF Advisors LLC does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports and which also might be owned in the portfolios of its affiliated companies. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision
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Contents
Front Page Summary…………………………………………………………. page 1 Contents……………………………………………………………………………. page 2
I. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………… page 3 II. Investment Thesis……………………………………………………….…….. page 3 III. Concentrated Solar Thermal Technology…..………………………. page 7 IV. The Technology ……………………………………………………………..... page 7 V. Productivity Comparisons…………………………………………………. page 18 VI. Competition………………………………………………………………………. page 19 VII. History of Concentrated Solar…..………………………………………. page 23 VIII. P&L and Balance Sheet……………………………………………………… page 25 IX. Appendix………………………………………………………………………….. page 26 Patents………………………………………………………………………. page 26 Management Profiles…………………………………………………. page 27 Board of Directors………………………………………………………. page 27 Disclaimers, Disclosures and Certifications………….……… page 28 X. References……………………………………………………………………….. page 29
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I. Executive Summary – Cheaper and more effective than Troughs, Towers or PV This is a fine example of a disruptive technology poised to take leadership in its industry. SETC has successfully designed a utility scale concentrated solar power (CSP) electricity generation solution. This configuration involves effective, significant and economic storage using cheap, non‐toxic, and easy to manage, air and ceramic as the transport and storage medium instead of complex and expensive molten salt or oils. Despite being developed since the 70’s this CSP configuration has been ‘below the radar’ in the forum of solar debate. It is the first in the world to deliver technology with the promise to generate economic electricity for consumers at any time of day or night and even during cloudy, overcast weather. The significance of storage radically changes the nature of normally intermittent solar technology and completely distinguishes it from trough or photovoltaics (PV) technologies. In the eyes of a utility the ability to sell electricity when needed, and not just when the sun is out, means you can obtain premium prices and intermittency need no longer be a limiting factor in renewable generation. The attractiveness of this is not to be understated. The sun only shines for less than 3,000 hours a year in very sunny climates. In the birthplace of modern solar which is surprisingly Germany, the total hours of solar irradiation is only about 1,800 hours. The ability to sell over 6,000 – 8,000 hours of electricity at full capacity means over three times the revenues per unit of capacity versus PV and over two times for trough concentrated solar thermal. The system works with remote applications and in grid tied situations where it can deliver electricity when it’s most needed and is particularly valuable when the sun is not shining. I expect this to be a more than competitive form of solar technology as costs decline from the prototype’s approximately $9 per watt (for over 8,000 watt hours instead of 2,500 maximum with PV) towards $4 per watt or lower as production starts to scale. The early technology was commercially demonstrated on a small scale in single dish systems in the US and sold throughout the world in the 80’s under the name “Omnium G”. The first generation modern utility scale system has been built, and succesfully demonstrated in Tianjin, China by SETC and has led to the dramatic new “Sunsail” design which improves all the major parameters. This is now about to obtain commercial demonstration contracts initially from Chinese utilities. There are also signs of a global contract pipeline. No part of renewable energy which includes fossil fuel energy, is growing faster than CSP and no participant in CSP has as much chance of taking the coming gigawatts of solar installations as forms such as SETC which incorporate significant economic storage. II. Investment Thesis
In order to illustrate how SETC is head and shoulders above its competition it is necessary to examine the characteristics of CSP and SETC competitors by way of showing why storage is better, why dishes and high temperatures lend a significant
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advantage, and why air and ceramics confer a premium situation for this emerging technology.
The disadvantage of intermittency with current solar and wind technologies is cured by storage. It even becomes an advantage. CSP requires its concentrator mirrors, whether troughs, or dishes, to be always focused on the sun. In diffused light the mirrors don’t function, unlike many forms of photovoltaic. The full force of the sun is required. However, due to the use of a thermal storage system (TES) in this case a heat transfer fluid such as molten salt, oil, or air, CSP systems can provide continuous power during, cloud or rain, or even night and, currently in the case of SETC alone, days of inclement weather.
At the start of 2011 there is less than 1 Gigawatt of globally installed CSP, much of which is in Spain and California. A report produced by the Energy Information Agency (EIA) in 2008 said that in 2010 there are over 10 Gigawatts of CSP being planned globally. Wikipedia states that 14 Gigawatts are under development. IHS predicts that by 2015, 17 Gigawatts per year will be the rate of annual installations.
No kind of energy source, renewable or fossil or nuclear, is growing at this pace. These figures spring from the proven effectiveness, economics and storage of CSP. Almost all current installations are parabolic trough systems, delivering electrical power in regions with high Daily Normal Irradiation (DNI) or sunlight. Worldwide electric power plants produced 17,320 terawatt‐hours (TWh) in 2005. In 2030, global demand is projected to exceed 30,000 TWh—nearly double the quantity. With emphasis on avoiding emissions and achieving higher levels of renewable output, political pressure to achieve significant progress and address the climate issue, it is highly likely that ever more economic forms of CSP are going to become preferred.
While PV has the simplicity of generating electricity on the spot without transmission losses, concentrated solar more resembles the central power station model of coal or nuclear. The growth of concentrated solar is due to two characteristics that straight PV panels and trough CSP systems cannot match; economics via storage and efficiency. It concentrates sunlight either with mirrors or lenses to allow greater efficiency. CSP can be used with PV or thermal. PV efficiency’s have come a long way as techniques have evolved that clear the energy pathways of photons and electrons using better materials and technology. Today efficiencies range from 9% ‐ 42% depending on the technology and quality of manufacture. Low end amorphous silicon will do just over 11% (ENER – United Solar) but thin films will go up to almost 19%. A copper indium gallium di‐selenide (CIGS) cell has hit 19% at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory but in general they are deemed to be in the region of 12% ‐ 15%. Multi‐crystalline or polycrystalline silicon has been crafted by Georgia Tech to yield almost 20% as well. Mono‐crystalline silicon has no crystal boundaries to inhibit the movement of electrons and can reach almost 24% efficiency as illustrated by Sunpower’s aesthetic product.
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If you concentrate the sun with lenses on PV you can reach much greater efficiencies due to the increased solar irradiation on the PV. Additionally you only need very small amounts of expensive PV which helps with the economics.
Increase in efficiency of different solar technologies over time (Source: NREL) CSP technologies use the sun’s heat to power a generator often by using a steam turbine. The process uses a transfer fluid medium such as molten salt or an oil to carry the heat from the collection point, often a focus of a mirrored trough, or a receiver, to a heat exchanger causing a generator to run. Global droughts are affecting many parts of the world. Hydro electric power which is ecologically damaging nevertheless is a form of base load power. Depending on geology dams worldwide hold back increasingly less water and more silt. It would be good to have a power generation hedge against a weakening hydro backdrop. SETC offers power generation with low water consumption which increases overall efficiency when drought conditions are in existence. The two power sources complement each other. Since we already know that the Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead is currently suffering record low levels of water, it serves also to know that at the time of writing, and because SETC’s initial installations are to be in China, that Chinese rivers are suffering from severe shortages of water. This image of the Yangtze, Asia’s largest river, illustrates a 50 year low in water levels. Engineers operating the Three Gorges Dam, designed to ease China’s need for large amounts of clean power, are forced to sacrifice hydroelectric generation for irrigation, drinking supplies and ecosystem support. The Yangtze supports 400 million and 40% of the Chinese economy. State
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grid authorities are warning of the worst power cuts in 7 years. A healthy supply of CSP would conveniently hedge and offset the need for hydroelectric power.
Lower levels of the Yangzte River showing low water levels Global warming is expected to melt glacial river source‐water forcing its use for irrigation rather than energy in the future. Hydroelectric is a very expensive option that can only be built on river and lake systems. To minimize the impact, the Three Gorges authority has been instructed to open the sluice gates. It discharged 1.8bn cubic meters of water in June 2011, taking the level of the reservoir below 153m from a peak of 175m. Droughts are currently almost global and severe.
On the horizon, the growing awareness of the role of storage technologies to overcome the intermittency of wind and solar and increase the reliability and emissions free nature of the grid, will lead to increasing demand for this form of thermal solar storage. Out of IHS’s estimate of 17 gigawatts by 2015, if only a 5% market share is achieved, SETC would experience over $4 billion in revenues which with only a 10% net margin would be worth over $400 million valuing the whole company at $2 billion compared to less than $10 million currently after the last financing at $0.30. This was a “cram down” financing done by holding the company hostage when they needed funds. The current market value taking into account imminent contracts, IP and knowhow, is closer to $50 million if you take out the recent extreme funding distortion. The company is 3 to 5 years ahead of its nearest rivals in this space and has the full support of at least one large Chinese utility, Huadian New Energy who helped with the updated “Sunsail” design.
CSP can be built wherever there is sunshine while Hydroelectric is limited to where there is water. The demand for this solution presents a compelling investment opportunity.
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III. Concentrated Solar Thermal If you put your hand in the sun, you have one quantity of solar irradiation on your skin. Reflect more sunshine with a flat mirror on your hand and now you have two suns worth of radiation (times the reflectivity of the mirror of about 93%). Increase the number of mirrors and you can increase the multiples of solar irradiation almost without limit. It will also burn your hand. If you use a lens or a curved mirror then you can concentrate the sun much more effectively. I am struck by the idea that historically, many cold winters could have been improved significantly simply by the use of parabolic curved reflective surfaces concentrating the sun’s heat on rocks to provide welcome heat overnight. IV. The Technology The parabola is a simple shape that collects parallel rays of an emitted beam, which can be sound, ultra violet or infra red and all other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. When these beams arrive at the dish from a long distance as from the sun, they are effectively parallel and the dish focuses them, troughs to a line and dishes to a point. Axis. A parabolic shape needs to point directly to the sun to properly focus the radiation. A trough only requires to be pointed in one axis, but a dish needs to be exactly focused in both axes at all times. This is a higher barrier but one well within the ability of engineers to arrange. The machinery to keep solar panels, troughs or dishes pointing at the sun is called a heliostat and can operate in several ways. It can either be mechanical like a clock and point at the sun, or it can have a feedback loop that allows the hottest focus to be obtained every time, or both. The parallel rays of the sun reflect off the parabolic curve and converge on the focus. Troughs focusing on lines can reach 700 °C but generally operate at 400 °C to reflect the lower temperature operating constraints of oils or molten salts. Dishes focus reach much higher temperatures in excess of 1,200 °C. Both systems have a receiver designed to capture the concentrated thermal energy. Variations of the 6 different forms of CSP can be found in section V. In most trough systems there is a long glass tube that lies along the focus, which contains another smaller, often metal tube filled with the heat transfer fluid (HTF). A vacuum in the receiver tube is designed to prevent the escape of thermal energy between the outer shell and the metal interior tube is the main way that is accomplished. Plumbing keeps the HTF flowing through the entire system from the receivers to the steam generators and to holding tanks and back to complete the round trip. SETC’s receiver focuses the sunlight and the intense heat it generates, to a point focus inside a cylinder that encloses the focus. There is a quartz window at the front of the chamber in front of the focus which provides less opportunity for wind cooling or loss of heat.
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Adoratec GM ThermaticBarber Nichols Infinity TriagenCapstone Turbine Maxxtec (Adamtec) TurbodenDoosan Heavy Industries Ormat UTCElectrotherm Pratt & Whitney Wilson TurboPowerEner-G-Rotors Rolls Royce Wow EnergiesFreepower Siemens
Turbines are the power block of the solar electricity generation machinery. They are very different in their efficiencies and costs. They also have very different power outputs and must be matched very carefully with their steam generation systems. There are turbines that work directly from the steam pressure such as the Rankine turbines in coal fired power stations. Then there are Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbines which use a separate and sealed loop for their working fluid which is heated by the heat exchanger. The working fluid volume expands when it vaporizes or changes phase from liquid to gas forcing the turbine, a wheel with blades like a jet engine, to spin. These liquids are very similar to the heat transfer fluids used in the next paragraph to transport the thermal energy. The efficiency of the turbine itself can be very high (isentropic efficiency) but the overall system includes components like recuperators and condensers which cool the vapor, condensing it back to a liquid, and heat exchangers which add heat to the liquid. They also have pumps which can keep the fluids circulating but which require power themselves to operate. The design of every part is specific to the efficiency of the whole. An ORC design does not need water if the heat source in the case of SETC is using air as a transport fluid. Many power generation systems use some of the power they generate. This is termed parasitic power loss. The lower this parasitic power usage is the better and this depends on the design of the subcomponents. Some turbine designs resemble a gearbox more than a turbine fan system. Here is a partial list of turbine companies. The New Energy Fund has a position in Freepower, arguably the smallest footprint, highest efficiency, lowest maintenance and lowest price of all the competition. There will no doubt be opportunities to use this technology when SETC emerges from its Chinese springboard to the rest of the world: Energy Storage Technology In solar conferences, solar storage is still a side issue, as though its importance can’t be realized until a ‘real’ economic solution arrives. Some smart grid conversation says that intermittent power sources, solar and wind, may be charged for cases where utilities ‘invoke curtailment’ caused by inability to balance the grid load due to intermittent sources. This is an outright rejection of solar power and they will not pay as a result. In the future, wind and solar producers may be charged for storage either by a rate schedule or by installing some capacity themselves. Reliable power is the goal. Utilities have to provide power despite uncertainties of demand by controlling supply. The supply/demand issue means that they have to keep more power
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available than demand at all times. Also coal and nuclear machinery are slow to adapt to changing demand and so peaking systems are often faster moving such as hydro and gas. Nuclear power needs to be kept at a running average or moves very slowly with the demand cycle and consequently produces more unused power overnight than is necessary. This was partly responsible for the appearance of pumped storage systems in countries which have spare overnight power to pump large amounts of water back up a hill to generate power for smoothing the next day. Fossil fuel plants run best at full capacity, so if they are cycling to reflect demand they are more expensive to run and are wasting energy. Generally, storage can be represented by 4 classes of technology; chemical batteries of all sorts have limited cycling, are expensive, only 85% efficient and often have toxic components, or fire risk. Pumped hydro, compressed air (CAES) are also not fully efficient and require geological structures or specific locations. Flywheels and thermal storage complete the list. Thermal also includes ice. Storage is used to:
• Smooth demand and supply to increase reliability • Make a big impact on a grid’s reliability • React instantaneously to demand • Recharge with off‐peak, cheaper, power • Be an economic boon to businesses • Allow utilities to obtain better electricity pricing • Provide emergency backup • Reduce the tonnage of burned coal, gas and uranium • Prevent cost and greenhouse gases • Reduce energy costs for the customer • Enable an intermittent source to become base load or on demand • Reduce customers’ energy costs • Reduce the need for expensive transmission lines
To meet its goals of becoming 33% renewable energy based by 2020 California is obliged to spend $12 billion for a first tranche on new transmission. They would be well served to consider spending money on storage technology for the next tranche. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, are also recommending storage as much as distribution. There are three activities on today’s grids; generation, transmission and distribution. Storage can do all three. FERC is exploring ways for storage developers to be paid. While US states in general have a predisposition to help storage technologies, California is the only state with a law on the books (AB 2514) to increase storage levels. They also have indirect support including the high renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of 33% by 2020 and incentives for self generation.
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Parabolic Trough Thermal Energy Storage Technology CSP trough designs are the most common incumbent form of CSP. As the receiver surface faces the ambient environment it suffers thermal losses due to convection and – increasingly important for high temperatures according to the Stefan‐Boltzmann law – re‐radiation. Solar thermal energy storage allows power generation during non‐solar periods and the ability to dispatch power on demand. As a result, thermal energy storage (TES) allows parabolic trough power plants to achieve higher annual capacity factors—from 25% without thermal storage up to 100% theoretically but practically less. This increases the value of the generated energy to the utility significantly. Advanced research centers for CSP know‐how include the German Aerospace Center (DLR) which has 30 years of history studying CSP, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US. Their respective websites (appendix) provide good information on the subject. While we know that the precursor company to SETC, Omnium G, worked closely with NREL on ceramic storage there is strangely very little mention of it on their current website. There is a mention of the DLR’s efforts to examine concrete as a thermal storage medium for storage and in that study there are results showing the effectiveness of different types of liquid, solid and another type of storage, called Phase Change Materials (PCM). A study by Flabeg, AG, the German solar and auto‐glass Company, shows how these different materials compare in terms of their critical metrics. In many trough and tower systems oils are normally used as the Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) and molten salts are used as a heat storage medium via a heat exchanger to store the thermal energy. Both have good metrics at lower than 400 deg C but as temperatures rise, molten salt bears up better than oil. For this reason molten salts are used in the Italian installation, Archimede, where trough temperatures are higher in order to obtain better overall efficiencies. Consequently the use of molten salt to obtain heat directly from the solar field was indicated. Both oil and molten salt are very expensive, need periodic replacement and the plumbing systems used are also very expensive. At high temperatures even stainless steels are eroded by the caustic chemistry. At lower temperatures there is the risk that salts will ‘freeze’ locking all the pipes with solid salt inside them and will need external heating to overcome this difficulty. Often a heating filament is inserted into a pipe to re‐melt the salt and open the bore of the pipe with electrically if a freeze event happens. Operators are eager to find salt mixes which offer very low ‘freezing’ points. I put inverted commas around the word freeze because of course we associate freezing with cold whereas it’s really to do with going from liquid to solid. These components of the system form a very significant portion of the cost of the entire power generation unit. Another heat transfer fluid that can work at high temperatures of about 500 deg C is water, but generally it has been avoided because the pressure of steam at that temperature (120 atmospheres or bar) again makes the plumbing much more
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expensive, even though the chemistry of very hot water is more benign than molten salts or oil. The German DLR and Endesa have built a trough and water system at Carboneras in Spain. They used water to reach higher temperatures to explore the greater efficiencies in the power block that result and storage is still achieved using molten salt phase change technology. Outside the SETC Cenicom installation in Tianjin, this is the highest temperature ‘latent heat’ CSP system in the world. Ceramics meanwhile, have tolerance of much higher temperatures, which are desirable due to the higher efficiency and smaller volume of storage media that result. Air tolerates extreme high temperatures. There are no boiling, pressure issues or off‐putting chemistry issues either. It has obvious economic advantages, and since it’s all about economics, the efficiency factor of using air as a heat transfer fluid is not as important. Heat Storage There are significant advantages to storage of thermal energy as a source of electrical energy. They are the following:
• Power during transient bad weather • Use of the power when the sun is NOT shining, or a time shift often termed
“on demand” or despatchable power • Significant increase in the annual capacity factor from 25% up to 100%. • Smoothing of supply and demand • Full loads at higher efficiency • Lower cost of generation • Improved availability of solar power plants • Availability for other heat needs such as industrial systems, hot water etc.
Good storage systems have:
• High energy density • Good heat transfer rates in the HTF storage medium • Mechanical and chemical stability at high temperatures • A large number of charge/discharge cycles • Low thermal losses • Ease of control
In the case of the trough systems there is mostly no storage except for the last heat of the sun before it sets. There is enough hot liquid in the system that the lag before it actually generates power means there can be several hours of latent heat still in the system. If you want to increase the amount of heat available you now have to increase the amount of hot liquid and the amount of receivers to have enough extra heat to go the whole night. This is an expensive extra outlay.
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The SETC variant pumps air at over 1,000 degrees C down a ceramic pipe to a heat vault where it comes in contact with ceramics which takes up the energy in the hot air and glow white hot. The air continues to move through the ceramic stack until all its thermal has been exchanged to the ceramic storage media. At this point you have a volume of white hot ceramics which can re‐heat air when it its pumped back through, and take it to the steam generator. The system is designed with a ‘solar multiple’ in mind. This is an area of solar irradiation that can provide the energy needed for the whole cycle of the day and night with some extra to maintain the heat in the heat vault at high levels. A solar multiple of 1 is enough heat for just the sunlight hours. A solar multiple of 2 might be well enough for the remainder of the day. A heat vault needing to work for 7 days straight of clouds will need to have a higher solar multiple or be placed in a geography with a very high direct normal irradiation (DNI). Thermal Energy Storage Systems (TES) Luz was the name of one of the first commercial installations of trough solar power. The first Luz trough plant, SEGS I, (Solar Electric Generating System) included a direct two‐tank thermal energy storage system with 3 hours of full‐load storage capacity. This system simply used the mineral oil (Caloria) heat transfer fluid to store energy for later use. It operated between 1985 and 1999 and was used to dispatch solar power to meet the Southern California Edison winter evening peak demand period (weekdays between 5‐10 p.m.). Because power plants later moved to higher operating temperatures for improving power cycle efficiency, they also switched to a new higher temperature heat transfer fluid, a eutectic (freezing) mixture of biphenyl‐diphenyl oxide (Therminol VP‐1 by Solutia or Dowtherm A by Dow). This fluid has a high vapor pressure making it impossible to use it in the same type of large unpressurized storage tank system similar to the one used for SEGS I. In common with many oil or molten salt plumbing components, pressurized storage tanks are very expensive. They cannot be manufactured at the large sizes needed for parabolic trough plants. Two‐Tank Two Fluid Indirect
Two‐tank indirect thermal energy storage system for Andasol 1
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Learning from a molten‐salt tower project in Spain, engineers integrated the double tank storage system into a parabolic trough plant with the conventional heat transfer fluid using heat exchangers. Hot heat transfer fluid from the solar field runs through the heat exchangers. Cold (relatively) molten‐salt takes up this heat. The now hot molten salt is stored in the hot storage tank for later use. When the energy in storage is needed, the system simply operates in reverse to reheat the solar heat transfer fluid, which generates steam to run the power plant. It is an indirect system because it uses one fluid (molten salt) for the storage and another for heat transfer. Several parabolic trough power plants in Spain use this thermal energy storage concept. For future parabolic trough power plants, a number of alternative approaches are being considered for reducing the cost of the thermal energy systems. A two‐tank indirect thermal energy storage system disadvantage is its high cost due to the heat exchangers and the small temperature difference between the cold and hot fluid in the storage system. Single‐Tank Thermocline This option uses a single tank for storing both the hot and cold fluid and can reduce the cost of a direct two‐tank storage system. This storage system features the hot fluid on top and the cold fluid on the bottom. The zone between the hot and cold fluids is called the thermocline and it has the advantage that most of the storage fluid can be replaced with a low‐cost filler material. Sandia National Laboratories has demonstrated a 2.5‐MWhr, backed‐bed thermocline storage system with binary molten‐salt fluid, and quartzite rock and sand for the filler material. Depending on the cost of the storage fluid, the thermocline can result in a substantially lower cost storage system. However, the thermocline storage system must maintain the thermocline zone in the tank, so that it does not expand to occupy the entire tank.
Thermocline tank system. Sandia National Laboratories
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Concrete The German Aerospace Center, DLR, tested a concrete, thermal energy storage system with high temperature concrete or castable ceramic materials in parabolic trough power plants. They used standard heat transfer fluid (HTF) in the solar field which passes through an array of pipes embedded in the solid medium to transfer the thermal energy to and from the media during plant operation. The main advantage of this approach is the low cost of the solid media. Primary issues include maintaining good contact between the concrete and piping, which increase heat transfer rates into and out of the solid medium.
Concrete blocks cast with embedded tubing for heat exchange with air
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At the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Southern Spain, Ciemat and DLR tests found both the castable ceramic and high‐temperature concrete suitable for solid media heat storage systems. They found that high‐temperature concrete was best due to lower costs. Phase‐change materials (PCM) When a material changes state or phase from solid to liquid to gas this is termed a phase change. PCM’s use chemical bonds to store and release ‘latent’ heat. Often much more energy is required to make the change than a straight linear increase or decrease in temperature. Unlike conventional heat storage materials, when PCMs reach the temperature at which they change phase (their melting or boiling point), they absorb large amounts of heat without getting hotter. During the phase change the materials have a constant temperature. This is often termed latent heat where just a little more energy is required to turn the liquid into a gas. Initially these materials also work in the conventional way by just getting hotter up to the phase change temperatures. These materials allow large amounts of energy to be stored in relatively small volumes, resulting in some of the lowest storage costs. Initially phase‐change materials were considered for use in conjunction with parabolic trough plants that used Solutia’s Therminol VP‐1 in the solar field. While promising, system challenges include complexity, a thermodynamic penalty and uncertainty about the lifetime of such systems. More recently DLR evaluated PCM thermal energy storage with direct steam generation in a parabolic trough solar field. This allows a better thermodynamic match between the phase‐change material and the phase‐change of steam used in the solar field. In this approach a single phase‐change material can be used to preheat, boil, and superheat steam. DLR has found that the cost of the system is driven not only by the cost of phase‐change storage material, but also by the rate at which energy will be charged or discharged from the material. Cost Comparisons of Storage Concept In this chart prepared by Solar Glassmaker, Flabeg in Germany look how much more expensive are salts both solid and liquid than other solid media, in this case concrete. The thermocline liquid salt system is much cheaper as well. The concrete system compared here is one that uses oil as the heat transfer fluid. The SETC solution uses no salts or oils straight away and also has free air which has cheaper plumbing despite higher temperatures and also higher efficiencies due to this higher temperature use.
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Source: Flabeg. German solar glass manufacturer Heat Transfer Fluids There are many forms of heat transport media including examples of all three phases of matter, gas, solids and liquids. Heat needs to be transported from the receivers to the turbines to generate electricity. This is achieved by using a transport media such as the liquid Dowtherm A, (Dow Chemical), or a gas or solid in a liquid phase such as a molten salt. Diphenyl oxide and biphenyl (Dow) have four prized characteristics; low viscosity to run easily in the plumbing and not be a load for a pump system; chemical stability to retain its integrity; a low freezing point so that it can be operated easily within a large temperature envelope (Dowtherm A freezes at 53 degrees F) and; Thermal stability with no thermal degradation at high temperatures. Above about 400 °C, fluids of all kinds rapidly degenerate. Research has shown that in trough systems there is often significant heat loss in receiver tubes. It was discovered that a build‐up of hydrogen gas in the vacuum between the glass and metal as the heat transfer fluid suffered thermal degeneration increased the conductivity of the heat to the atmosphere and a consequent decrease in efficiency. In trough fields that use molten salt like the twin tank Andasol 3, the Solar Millennium plant in Spain, 3,000 tons of calcium nitrate and sodium nitrate salt mixture is used. The salt is stored in its crystalline state and is initially liquefied by heating with propane gas during the filling of the salt tanks on site. Each salt tank holds around 30,000 tons of liquid salt. During the day, the salt is heated to 390°C by the solar field and is pumped from one tank into the other. At night or in cloudy weather, this thermal energy is released and converted into electricity with enough
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energy to operate the turbine for approximately eight hours at full capacity. The tanks of molten salt allow the plant to generate double the electrical output that a non storage trough plant can produce at just over €0.27 cents per kilowatt hour. In Spain at the Andasol 1 plant is guaranteed €0.27 per kilowatt hour for 25 years as a feed in tariff. Significantly, the SETC technology uses plentiful, free, non‐toxic, perfectly non‐viscous, thermal stable, no freezing point …. Air as an HTF and stable, cheap, heat tolerant ceramics as a storage medium! Direct Molten‐Salt Heat Transfer Fluid Using molten‐salt for heat transfer as well as storage eliminates the need for expensive heat exchangers and allows the solar field to be operated at higher temperatures than current heat transfer fluids such as oils allow. Unfortunately, molten‐salts freeze at relatively high temperatures 120 to 220°C (250‐430°F). This means that special care must be taken to ensure that the salt does not freeze in the solar field piping during the night and in long cloudy periods fossil fuels are needed to keep the temperatures high and the salts molten. The Italian research laboratory, ENEA, has proven the technical feasibility of this form of CSP with molten salts. Sandia National Laboratories are developing new salt mixtures with freeze points below 100°C (212°F) which greatly improves things. Air as an HTF In 2008 a 1.5 MW solar tower was commissioned by the Julich Institut in Germany. It was constructed by Kraftanlagen Munchen. Although Omnium G had built many solar power plants using air and ceramics in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Julich installation was hailed as the world's first solar thermal power plant erected which uses air as the medium for heat transport. This form of hubris is a very common form of expression in this extremely competitive industry. Liquid media such as molten salt or oil are superior to air due to a higher specific heat capacity, meaning low volume flow rates and low pumping losses. The disadvantage of liquids is that the solar radiation concentrated to fluxes of 500 to 1000 suns is already in the air and to transfer the heat it has to lose energy by passing through heat exchanger walls and risk re‐radiation (Stephan Boltzman Law).
Air can compensate by being used in large volumes and since it is free this represents no cost. The Jülich system uses this volumetric effect to increase efficiency. Ambient air is sucked through a blackened porous structure on which the solar radiation is focused. The air cools the outer parts of the receiver and is heated up gradually to the design temperature of 700 °C at the inner surface. Air tolerates high temperatures, has very low viscosity for pumping in the system and is free for
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use of large volumes. The hot air then generates steam, or, can be diverted into a storage system consisting of honeycomb‐type ceramic blocks, which confers several hours of extra generating time on the system.
Part of the extraordinary appeal for solar power can be seen in the phenomenon of Germany leading the world in solar energy while only having 1,800 hours a year of solar exposure.
Jülich is by no means the ideal location for a solar power facility, but it is situated close to excellent scientific and industrial resources in the Rhineland, close to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the University of Aachen, with its expertise in conventional power plants. Storage concepts based on sand have also been studied with promising results.
V. Productivity Comparisons
A typical February day in Spain
Schematic diagram of the Air and Ceramics System at the Julich Plant in Germany
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This graph illustrates a February day in Spain where the solar irradiation represented by the yellow line climbs in an n shape over the course of a daily 9 hour cycle. It also shows the power production cycle of a system without storage, generating just 10 kilowatts from just after 11am to just after 3pm but also a smaller amount of power slightly before and after that point at about 20% efficiency. Comparison of US Parabolic Trough Plants The chart below shows the different solar electrical generating parabolic trough systems (SEGS) in various locations in the Western deserts of the USA. It gives us a view of the long and reliable service they have provided since 1985, the large capacity of power provided (419 megawatts in this selection), the output temperatures of the trough systems (307 – 390 °C), and the efficiency of the turbines, which has climbed to similar efficiency levels of coal generation at 37.6%. It also significantly shows that the only way they can be despatchable and provide power on demand is by also having installed a fossil fuel gas boiler system to maintain heat on the steam generation system. The SETC version of this has high efficiency’s by virtue of the higher temperatures at over 1,000 °C, can also be scaled to match the needs of utilities, can generate more electricity using the same field area and needs no water or fossil fuel to make all of this possible. The field tested system in Tianjin bears this out. V. Competition There are a range of technologies and companies that represent competition and incumbent bankable designs in CSP. Storage as has been suggested is going the wrong direction in molten salts and oils and trough systems due to the extra expense and lower efficiency they experience. Early in the renewable energy experience in the 1990’s, there was a sense that economics would follow high
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efficiency technologies. This was illustrated in the wider paradigm by high efficiency fuel cells being too expensive to reach market, representing the efficiency argument. On the economic argument side was the example of storing otherwise wasted nuclear electricity by building pumped storage systems where night time nuclear electricity is used to pump water up to a reservoir. Such systems can then be used to smooth the demand/supply cycles of local grids or to sell into the high priced industrial power market during the day. Such use of pumped storage is very economical. In CSP, the idea was to avoid low efficiency technologies such as the use of air as a heat transfer fluid. In fact it turns out that balance of plant costs to support oils and molten salts are all uneconomic and have effectively caused all of these systems to be highly unlikely to be able to cut their levelized costs of energy (LCOE) which represent project capex and opex over the lifetime of the project divided by the production of kilowatt hours during that lifetime. On this basis, the only real way to look at a project cost, the use of air and ceramics turn out to have very low combined capex and opex over its lifetime. The coup‐de‐gras on this picture is that with the expanded capacity times of over 6,000 hours a year of extra electricity and avoiding intermittency factors, true base load and on demand solar is much more attractive to utilities. Extra kilowatts due to higher capacity factors mean a lower cost per kilowatt LCOE. In a move to increase renewable energy in California, the California Energy Commission today approved the construction of the 1,000‐megawatt Blythe Solar Power Project. The plant would be the world's largest concentrated solar power facility. Additionally, the project would be among the first commercial solar thermal power plants permitted on federal public land in the United States. In a unanimous vote, the Energy Commission adopted the presiding member's proposed decision (PMPD) that recommended licensing the facility proposed for eastern Riverside County. The project is the first solar thermal power plant on federal land to be voted upon by the Commission. The BLM, which approves the use of U.S. public lands, is scheduled to make a decision before the end of October. The BLM ruling is the final step before the project can proceed. The Blythe Solar Power Project is among nine large solar thermal projects scheduled to go before the Energy Commission for a decision before the end of 2010 in order to qualify for federal stimulus funds. More than 4,300 megawatts of solar power will be added if all nine projects are approved. The eight other high priority projects are: the 250‐MW Abengoa Mojave Solar Project; the 250‐MW Beacon Solar Energy Project; the 850‐MW Calico Solar Project; the 250‐MW Genesis Solar Energy Project; the 709‐MW Imperial Valley Solar Project; the 370‐MW Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Project; the 500‐MW Palen Solar Power Project; and the 150‐MW Rice Solar Energy Project. The Blythe Solar Power Project is the third project that the Commission has approved in three weeks. The Beacon Solar Energy Project, the first solar thermal power plant
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permitted in 20 years, was licensed Aug. 25 and the Abengoa Mojave Solar Project on Sept. 8. The Blythe Solar Power Project is being developed by Solar Millennium, LLC, a subsidiary of Solar Trust of America. The project site is located in an unincorporated area of Riverside County, approximately two miles north of U.S. Interstate 10 and eight miles west of Blythe. The applicants have applied for a right‐of‐way authorization from the BLM for 9,400 acres, with 7,025 acres for construction and operation. The proposed project would use parabolic trough technology where parabolic mirrors are used to heat a transfer fluid which is then used to generate steam. Electricity is produced from the steam expanding through steam turbine generators. The project's proposed 1,000‐MW output will be generated by four independent 250‐MW units. Cost. The SETC system prototype cost in the range of $9.00 per watt which is 50% higher than the most expensive form of silicon solar to install. PV systems only obtain about 2,500 hours functioning in a sunny climate, and are an expensive option, when compared to SETC’s ability to produce 6,000 to 8,000 hours of electricity annually. Dividing the capex by the hours of electricity the SETC option has a much faster payback. Additionally the PV system only produces its nameplate capacity at midday on a clear day. All the other hours of the day it is producing less than a watt. Additionally, at this stage of the prototype, it is expected that the cost of the SETC system will decline to below $5 per watt. At this point the competitivity is compelling given that it is ‘on demand’, 6,000 hours per year, and cheaper than the currently most installed solar technology, PV. If we look at a simple levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) over a typical PPA term of 25 years and divide the capex by electricity units generated we obtain costs per kilowatt under $0.10 cents. As capex costs decline to $4 per watt, the cost of a levelized kilowatt hour of electricity can reach dirty coal prices if the equipment can function for 8,000 hours. In sunny climates the SETC configuration can theoretically deliver this price which is cheaper than dirty coal but in any case beat any system without storage. Solar Reserve is a CSP company working on 2 large projects, on in California and the other in Nevada both with DOE loan guarantees. They have another project in Spain where they are working on their first demonstration. They use a 600 foot high tower, which is high but not compared to industrial chimneys. They have a 0.5 terawatt annual production which compares well with the Hoover Dam which produces 5 terawatt hours per year if Lake Mead is at full capacity. They use thousands of heliostat controlled flat (therefore cheaper) mirrors controlled centrally. The receiver is 94% efficient with 4% glare reflection. They are cleared with the FAA in the US because unlike windmills nothing is moving except the ‘under the radar’ heliostats. Mirrors are placed 360 degrees around the tower’s receiver and the tubular receiver materials are made by Rocketdyne, the same engineers
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who designed the Space Shuttle Engine to survive the huge hydrogen/oxygen launch temperatures, where the cool combustion fluids actually circulate through the hot engine cowling before reaching the combustion chamber. In the Spanish demonstration they have a 50 megawatt turbine because that’s the legal cap there. In California they believe they can achieve a 12 – 14 hour load at 100 megawatts and in Nevada, 150 megawatts with a LCOE of less than 15 cents per kw/hour. Lloyd Energy in Australia, which has been subsequently acquired, has been looking into using single crystal graphite to store heat from the sun. Graphite crystals of the size to make a difference cost a lot but have some advantages such as a very low emissivity. SETC is a company that has designed equipment that can save solar thermal energy at high temperatures, which can be stored in smaller cheaper volumes so that it can be used to generate electricity at any time of choosing. Unlike photovoltaic and trough systems it can be operational for over 8,000 hours a year instead of approximately only the 2,000 – 2,500 offered by the sun, consequently selling much more electricity. This is desirable for utilities which are searching for ways of increasing their proportion of generating capacity in renewable energy in response in the US to Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) or reducing their production of carbon dioxide. VI. Historical View of Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Romans built houses with south facing portico’s to collect sunlight in winter and Archimedes is famed for supposedly harnessing reflective shields when the Romans laid siege to his home, Syracuse, Sicily to burn their ships with sunlight. In the 1800’s Samuel Pierpont Langley was only narrowly beaten to the prize of the first manned airplane flight by the Wright brothers. He was also first to analyze infrared solar energy. A physical unit for solar energy was named the Langley (Ly) in his honor. Using spectroscopy he analyzed the quantity of energy through all its wavelengths both at ground level and atop the 14,000 foot peak of Mount Whitney. He observed that certain wavelengths of the energy were absorbed by water vapor
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(an assistant later prophetically also observed that certain solar wavelengths were absorbed by CO2 helping form the basis for climate science). In 1906, John Brashear, a self‐taught astronomer and telescope manufacturer from Pittsburgh, made the following remarks to a group of professors from Lehigh University: “When we learn that the solar energy, if conserved, would approximately equal a horse power for each square meter of the earth's surface for every twenty‐four hours, we may surely consider it a problem worthy of profound study by our scientific investigators.” The 1970’s US Carter Administration coincided with the first oil shock. Opec increased the value of oil by 400% causing recessions in the West. These events stimulated the first serious global thinking on renewable energy. Today’s Chairman and CEO went to China in 2000 to investigate the opportunities presented by the Chinese banks’ large non‐performing loans that were problematic. He noticed the lack of electrical power in some communities and contacted an engineer he employed when he was CEO of a printing company. Omnium G was the precursor company that existed between 1978 and 1986. It developed a single dish and storage system that used air and ceramics and in those years they sold 25 systems around the world. The oil price started to decline and gasoline was still at $0.30 cents. The DOE was not interested in helping to develop the technology. It was also the case that the DOE funding was very low. The SETC CEO remembers that high ranking directors had no funds to travel. The CEO was excited about the possibilities and held a meeting in Los Angeles airport. Three engineers were all present. All participants were very excited and agreed to restart the project. The company president also attended that meeting. Her previous
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experience had been to head up the Chinese office of Sargent & Lundy, the Chicago based engineering consultancy. The China Power Engineering Consulting Company (CEPCC), a Chinese, state owned engineering consulting group and the Southwest Electric Power Design Institute (SWEPDI), performed a study of the SETC and its technology. This took 4 months to complete and concluded with a favorable analysis of the technology which was released in August 2005. Early discussions with Huaguan resulted in initial studies of installations in Tibet which were detailed enough to show hourly and daily levels of thermal energy and electrical output from storage vaults in a Tibetan environment. Initially in China, some companies were tempted to try to take control of the technology straight away. In 2006 SETC hired 3 Chinese engineers and brought them to the US for immersion and familiarization for 2 weeks then they went back to Tianjin and took a factory site with 6,000 square meters. They retained “703” a Chinese engineering group and government contractor as the ECP. 703 is a submarine construction group and SETC liked their capability to pack equipment into small spaces. Today SETC has 43 employees of which 36 are engineers. B attended an ISES conference in 2005 in Orlando, FL and went to Seville in Spain for the next ISES conference. Storage in those years extended only to 4 – 6 hours. The state of the art even today is for only 12 hours with plans such as those of Torresol Solar for 15 hours and using molten salts or hot oil is very uneconomic. In May 2010, SETC presented to the US China Renewable Energy Forum. SETC initiated a proposal for a 6 megawatt project. Huadian, the fifth largest Chinese electrical utility has a subsidiary called Huadian New Energy (HNE), which was very receptive and responsive to the proposal. In subsequent discussions, SETC and HNE reached agreement on a strategic partnership in China and other emerging markets. As the initial step they agreed to fund and build a 6 megawatt commercial demonstration in Gansu province, to be followed by building out to 200 megawatts. Project Profile: Province: Gansu Capex: US $69 million (470 million Renminbi) Generation: 36,120 megawatt/hours per year over 6,021 hours SETC role: Solar technology and equipment. Developer, investor and EPC
contractor. Timeline: 4Q 2010 contract signing 2Q 2011 breaking ground (April/May as ground softens) 4Q 2012 Commissioning of 6 mw plant (18 months to deliver) Impact: synergy of US technology and Chinese capital Best demonstration of Chinese and US cooperation Follow‐on contracts worth billions for SETC and others in CSP VII. P&L and Balance Sheet
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VIII. Appendix Patents Although many of the ideas the company currently uses comes from the Omnium, G team, any patents they filed have long since expired. However the technology has moved significantly beyond the original vision. New patents have been filed. The company has filed 29 patent applications in China of which 15 have now been granted. The Chinese split patents between ‘innovation’ and ‘utility’ patents. Some utility patents are also granted as innovation patents. They also have US patents filed in China. Now the company enjoys a technology that offers despatchable, on demand, base load concentrated solar thermal storage. Management Profiles Robert Speiser, Chairman and CEO recognized the rapidly growing demand for renewable power, particularly in China, Mr. Speiser co‐founded the company in 2006 to develop and commercialize the Cenicom® system. Prior to forming Solar ETC, Mr. Speiser had been retained by dozens of institutions and companies to consult on financial and asset restructuring. Mr. Speiser has worked as CEO of a diversified range of companies including Anacon Genetics Inc., KCR Technology Inc., Hospital Equipment Services, Capital Bakers Inc., and Disogrin Industries, Inc. In over 40 years, Mr. Speiser has gained significant experience in operations, mergers & acquisitions, turnarounds, restructuring and raising capital. Robert holds a Bachelor degree of Science in Chemical Engineering from the CCNY School of Engineering as well as post‐graduate studies in Marketing & Psychology at Rutgers University in the US. Sarah Wang is Executive Vice President and also President of Solar ETC (China) and the General Manager of Solar ETC (Tianjin). Before joining Solar ETC, Ms. Wang worked for four years as a business development advisor to companies that were engaged in new business ventures between China and Canada. She also had extensive experience in the power industry in China. Sarah was the Chief Representative in the Beijing Office of Sargent & Lundy, a Chicago‐based international power plant engineering and consulting company, where she was responsible for all business development and operational activities. Ms. Wang participated in many projects at various stages of development including; bidding, contract negotiations, project implementation and Liquidation/Damage negotiations. Ms. Wang holds a Bachelor degree in Computer Science and an MBA. Ronald Derby serves as Solar ETC’s Chief Technology Officer and is co‐founder of the company. Mr. Derby has more than thirty years of experience in management, finance, engineering, marketing, and strategic planning. Starting his career in developing satellite tracking systems, Mr. Derby was the chief architect integrating a dual‐axis tracking energy capturing system on the first prototype for Cenicom® in the 1980s. In addition, Mr. Derby held management and operation positions at Omnium‐G, KCR Technology, ScanCode, Inc. Accent Color Services, and Advisors Capital Investments. Mr. Derby holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, US, a MSc degree in Electrical Engineering at University of Southern California and an MBA from the California State University at Fullerton. Brian Li brings a profound understanding of the energy industry through his 20 years of experience and extensive network of contacts. Prior to joining Solar ETC, Mr. Li worked with a number of established power companies and international energy consulting firms, including China Huaneng Group, Golden Concord (Hong Kong) Ltd.,
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and Environmental Resource Management Co. Ltd. Mr. Li held different senior management positions and focused on strategic planning, business development, and project management in the renewable energy sector in China. In these roles, he successfully established wind power projects with total capacity of over 750MW. Mr. Li holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in China and an MBA from Australian National University in Canberra in Australia. Sam Huang, Vice President ‐ Strategic Business Development, Solar ETC (China). Sam has a solid understanding of the Chinese electric power industry, a strong network of industry and government contacts, and a thorough understanding of energy project finance. Prior to joining Solar ETC, Mr. Huang held strategy, planning, operations, and sales positions in several utilities and renewable energy companies including Beijing Clean Energy Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing BOQI Electric Power Co. Ltd., and the North‐China Electric Power Design Institute. During his 14 years in the energy industry, Mr. Huang led the investments of several environment‐friendly power plant projects. He was in charge of the due diligence, project budgeting and project bidding. Mr. Huang is a Registered Consulting Engineer and holds a Bachelor degree of Engineering from South East University, as well as an MBA from Tsinghua University in China. Bianca Wang, Financial Controller, Solar ETC (China) leads the financial function of Solar ETC (China) and Solar ETC (Tianjin). Prior to joining Solar ETC (China), Bianca Wang spent eight years with Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Service and Audit Department in Beijing, China. Ms. Wang’s primary responsibility with Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Service was to advise multinational companies and private equities for their M&A and investments in China. Ms. Wang had worked on more than 40 cross‐border transactions. During her tenure with Ernst & Young Audit Department, she provided annual audit service for MNCs in China as well as overseas IPO audit services for Chinese companies. Ms. Wang holds an MBA from INSEAD in France and a Bachelor degree in Economics from University of International Business and Economics in China. Ms. Wang is also a Chinese Certified Public Accountant. Andrew Zhou, Chief Engineer, Solar ETC (China), Andrew is Solar ETC’s Chief Engineer. Mr. Zhou brings extremely strong power‐sector engineering and project management expertise to the company. Mr. Zhou held technical management positions in several Chinese and international engineering firms with a focus in the power sector, including Truba Manunggal Engineering Co. Ltd. and Black & Veatch. He has experience with both fossil fuel and renewable energy power projects. Mr. Zhou worked on a number of international projects and participated in numerous international energy conferences. Mr. Zhou holds a Bachelor degree in Process Control Engineering and a Master degree in Control Engineering from Southeast University in China. Mr. Zhou also did post‐graduate studies in Control Engineering at Xiamen University in China. Sam Liu, Vice General Manager – R&D and Manufacture, Solar ETC (Tianjin) leads the Cenicom® manufacturing, design, and fabrication efforts. He has extensive experience in manufacturing and technology commercialization. Prior to joining Solar ETC (Tianjin), Mr. Liu held senior level positions in several Chinese and multi‐national ventures. With renewable energy development gaining importance in Chinese energy policy, Mr. Liu has focused his talents on concentrating solar power (CSP) systems for over 6 years, working on dish, tower, and trough systems. He has played leading roles in several solar energy research projects for the Chinese government‐sponsored “State High‐Tech Development Plan”. Mr. Liu has received numerous honors for his work on solar power including an award for solar tower research from Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Science
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in 2005. Mr. Liu holds a Bachelor in Mechanics from Shenyang University of Technology in China. Haowei Zhang, Vice General Manager – HR & Administration, Solar ETC (Tianjin) leads the administration, commercial, and human resources practice of Solar ETC (Tianjin). Mr. Zhang also serves as the Secretary to the Board of Solar ETC. Prior to joining SETC, Mr. Zhang worked in Chinese local government for over ten years and focused on fostering multi‐national business and recruiting foreign direct investment. Mr. Zhang also served as the Commercial Vice Consul in the Consulate General in New York for four years. In this role, Mr. Zhang developed strong contacts and expertise in both the US and Chinese business communities. Mr. Zhang holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics in China. IX. Disclaimers, Certifications and Disclosures ANALYST CERTIFICATION All of the recommendations and views about the securities and companies in this report accurately reflect the personal views of the research analyst named on the cover of this report. No part of this research analyst’s compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed by the research analyst in this research report. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES DISCLAIMERS This report has been prepared by NEF Advisors LLC, in New York. It may not be reproduced, redistributed or copied in whole or in part for any purpose. This report has been approved by, and is being distributed in the US or to US persons, by NEF Advisors LLC, which accepts responsibility for its contents in the US. Neither this report nor any copy or part thereof may be distributed in any other jurisdictions where its distribution may be restricted by law and persons into whose possession this report comes should inform themselves about, and observe, any such restrictions. Distribution of this report in any such other jurisdictions may constitute a violation of US securities laws, or the law of any such other jurisdictions. This report does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities referred to herein. It should not be so construed, nor should it or any part of it form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract or commitment whatsoever. The information in this report, or on which this report is based, has been obtained from sources that NEF Advisors LLC believes to be reliable and accurate. However, it has not been independently verified and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any information obtained from third parties. The information or opinions are provided as at the date of this report and are subject to change without notice. The information and opinions provided in this report take no account of the investors’ individual circumstances and should not be taken as specific advice on the merits of any investment decision. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making any investment decisions. Further information is available upon request. NEF Advisors LLC does not accept any liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this report or its contents. By accepting this report you agree to be bound by the foregoing limitations. NEF Advisors LLC 186 Franklin Street, 5A, New York, NY 10013 Registered with the SEC as an Investment Advisor
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XI. References
Websites: NREL’s CSP http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/ The German Aerospace Center (DLR) http://www.dlr.de/en/ Copyright 2010 NEF Advisors LLC. All rights reserved.
