Schott Solar builds 200 MW CSP line with eye on new heat transfer fluids

Schott Solar opened a $100 million production facility today to make components for the solar thermal and photovoltaic markets.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico, facility has a peak production capacity of 200 megawatts of receivers for parabolic trough concentrated solar power plants, and 85 MW of 225-watt polycrystalline PV modules. The company expects to expand the CSP production to 400 MW per year.

Schott Solar, a subsidiary of German glassmaker Schott, designed the CSP line to produce its current receiver technology, as well as next-generation prototypes under development that accommodate new, higher temperature heat transfer fluids (HTF), Schott North America CEO Gerry Fine told the Cleantech Group.

The receivers incorporate coated steel absorber tubes in evacuated glass envelopes. Solar radiation heats HTF inside the receiver before it flows to a heat exchanger and creates stream that spins a turbine to create energy. Its main competitor is Solel.

The sector is looking at new HTF with two purposes: to reduce parasitic loss as fluids are pumped through the systems, and to store the energy produced. Molten salts are considered one of the front runners for next-generation HTF technology (see Cleantech Group picks winners and losers in concentrated solar thermal).

Fine declined to be more specific about the new HTF but said that improved mirror technologies will enable hotter oils, which necessitates new tubing sizes, seals, and links.

“Our customers need continuous innovation in the industry, and we think it’s serving a fundamental need, which is to improve solar thermal trough technology,” Fine said. “We anticipate customers in the future are going to want to use different heat transfer fluids, and we don’t want to be the limiting step.”

It’s Schott’s first combo facility for CSP and PV production, and possibly one of the only in the world, Fine said. The PV is aimed at the commercial and government markets, while the CSP components are expected to serve utility customers.

“The concentrated solar power market is certainly more robust right now than the PV market, especially in North America,” Fine said. “Our customers indicate they have more than 2 gigawatts of solar thermal power plants on the books. In the case of the PV industry worldwide, we’re experiencing a bit of a slowdown this year, although we continue to expect a robust 2010.”

The global economic slowdown has been compounded in some leading solar markets by legislation that reduces solar incentives, especially in Spain (see Spain leads 2008 solar market and Extra solar panels in Spain driving down prices). Germany has delayed its incentive reductions until next year (see German feed-in tariff reductions delayed till 2010).

The 200,000-square-foot facility represents “a bet on the North American market” for Schott, but the production is expected to be shipped worldwide. Much of the industry regards North America and the Middle East as large future market opportunities, Fine said (see UAE: The future of cleantech? and Chinese solar giant Suntech seeks base for US production).

The U.S. stimulus package is poised to increase the size of the U.S. market, however, Fine said it has a stalled projects as companies await funding announcements (see Germany, U.S., Australia inject stimulus spending into cleantech).

“The impact from the federal stimulus program to date has actually been to slow down growth,” he said. “Since the government announced the availability of funds but has yet to articulate how the funds will be deployed, many of our customers have been waiting to find out whether they are eligible for stimulus money.”

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced funding in some sectors, including advanced vehicle development, biofuels, fuel cells and LEDs (see IPOs back on the table? and Cleantech calls on Uncle Sam this week).

In the next six months, Schott’s newest factory is expected to produce 30 MW of PV and 100 MW of receivers, Fine said. Much of the facility’s production for the next year is already under contract, he said.

Schott Solar also has a factory in Billerica, Mass., that can produce 15 MW of PV modules per year. Schott Solar broke ground on the New Mexico plant in March 2008, with trial production starting in April 2009 (see Schott Solar to build plant in New Mexico).

Schott has shipped small quantities of production out of the new facility, but Fine declined to name the customers. In September, Schott announced it planned to supply 5 MW of multicrystalline photovoltaic modules to AEE Solar from its New Mexico and Massachusetts facilities (see Schott and AEE Solar sign module deal). Schott also agreed to supply Healdsburg, Calif.-based DC Power Systems with 13 MW of modules (see Schott inks solar-module deal with DC Power), and Long Beach, Calif.-based PermaCity Solar with 10 MW over three years (see Schott Solar, PermaCity in PV supply deal).

It’s important for Schott to offer customers CSP and PV solutions because of the constantly evolving markets for solar, Fine said.

“Our customers’ needs change over time and they participate in a multitude of different markets, and we want to make sure we have whatever can deliver solar power at the price they need,” he said.

The factory has 300 employees now and is expected to add 50 by year’s end. Eventually, Schott expects to invest $400 million more to quadruple the square footage to 800,000 and reach 1,500 employees.