Nanogen Unveils Small-Scale Concentrating Solar Power

Florida-based Nanogen Power Systems has unveiled a line of small-scale modular and portable concentrating solar power (CSP) equipment.

The NanoCSP™ brings the economics and efficiency of large scale CSP systems to the 250kW to 10MW marketplace, the company says.

“Nanogen Power Systems is the first company to successfully downscale
the Collecting Solar Power technology used in billion dollar solar power
plants and package it into an affordable, modular, scalable system
which can be shipped worldwide in cargo containers and deployed within
48 hours,” Perry West, Nanogen’s CEO said.

Nanogen’s portable solar power plants are available in multiples of 250kW up to 1MW. The entire power plant is self-contained and packaged in steel cargo containers which can be shipped worldwide by sea, barge, truck or rail. Upon arrival the containers are aligned with the sun, based on latitude, using a surveyors transit. Within 48 hours, two workers can have the power plant operational, according to a Nanogen release.

Sunlight is captured by a stationary parabolic trough. Unlike the existing bent-glass mirrors used in large scale CSP plants, NanoCSP™ troughs are lightweight, shatterproof thermoplastic components that are 100% recyclable. Nanogen says it has reduced the cost of the solar collector components by more than 60%.

The solar troughs heat a proprietary thermal liquid which powers an ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) engine. The ORC engines turn 250kW to 10MW generators. Nanogen then uses a proprietary TES (Thermal Energy Storage) tank to store the heated thermal fluid at a temperature sufficient to power the gen-set, for up to 16 hours, after the sun has set.

While the portable units were originally designed for disaster relief, the company said customers are inquiring about using the systems for back-up power systems for public buildings, co-generation compliance by power companies, military deployments and several off-grid mining operations in Africa.

Nanogen Power Systems is headquartered in Cocoa, Florida with manufacturing operations in Titusville, Florida.