We understand that with over 120 Solar heating and PV Electric products on the market now, it is a very difficult for anyone to choose any one solar system for your heating, cooling, or electric needs.
Our product, called the SolarBeam Concentrator, is the first mass produced and currently available parabolic solar concentrator on the market, and it is reasonably priced. By May 2011, we should have an independent laboratory grant us a SRCC Solar rating, which will confirm how efficient this unit really is.
The principals of solar concentration have been well proven as the most efficient method to harness the sun. The SolarBeam Concentrator uses it’s parabolic reflective mirrors to focus all the available sunlight into a small 10″ x 10″ collector plate. By concentrating the sunlight a much hotter water temperature (or higher wattage’s for PV electric) can be achieved as compared to a conventional two dimensional flat panel or evacuated tube systems. In addition, the SolarBeam literally tracks the sun, via a sophisticated GPS navigational control module, so every amount of available sunlight is harnessed, from sunrise to sunset. The SolarBeam Concentrator generates a peak of 13 kW of heat per hour (44,000 BTUs per hour), and starting in 2012, a 10″ x 10″ replacement dual function collector plate module, will become available so the SolarBeam will simultaneously produce up to 4.0 kW of electricity, with a reduced amount of 8 kW of hot water, both at the same time. No other commercially available solar collector can do this. The SolarBeam is also built to withstand the most extreme weather conditions, and unlike flat plate collectors, which uses glass on the surface, it is not as vulnerable to hail or other common weather hazards. There are no fragile glass parts in the SolarBeam, only structural steel and heavy aluminum.
The SolarBeam really outshines when space is a premium. Just one SolarBeam should produce the equivalent energy output as compared to 15 average size flat plate thermal collectors and 25 PV electric solar panels at the same time, but a flat plate system would require a much larger surface area. Typically, most flat plate collectors are installed on a roof. Not only is it difficult to work on a roof for installation, but consider in the future the maintenance of both the roof under the flat plate collectors, or maintenance and working on any flat collector on a sloped roof. The SolarBeam is a stand alone system, situated on an eight foot pedestal, easy to install and maintain, and can be located anywhere on the ground within 150 feet (or more) of the building. It also only requires about 250 square feet of surface floor area per unit, as compared to about 900 sq. ft of surface area to achieve the same energy output from flat plate thermal and PV panels.
For larger commercial needs, the SolarBeam can be placed in series or parallel to produce energy needs for large hotels, schools, apartment complexes, and other industrial needs, etc. Roof mounting is also available on larger commercial buildings. Solar farms are also cost effective and will not require large Wind towers and will not produce the noises associated and other complaints common to most Wind Farms.
Any drawbacks? This unit is so powerful, with a retail price of about $20k each, just for each unit, it would not be cost effective to install the SolarBeam solely for the limited hot water demands of just one residential home. However, if a relatively large home also required space heating, domestic hot water, and possibly had a swimming pool, it would make perfect sense to consider the SolarBeam. For commercial applications, we feel the SolarBeam will, by far, be the best alternative. Also, due to the GPS tracking requirement, a wider access to the southern sky is required to fully harness the power of the SolarBeam. In addition, we recommend a yearly visit of the system by a trained technician, to certify all systems are working properly, and this annual maintenance plan could be combined into an extended warranty program.
Payback-Due to the greater efficiency of the SolarBeam, as compared to any other solar product now on the market, we feel we can greatly reduce the payback time as compared to any other system. Payback time is dependent upon your local utility’s rate for electrical, oil, or gas, the average amount of sunlight annually available to your specific area every year, the proper design of your storage system so the full potential of the SolarBeam is used, and most importantly, the energy needs of your home or business. Under ideal conditions, we think some homes or businesses will have a payback period as short as 3 years, and others applications maybe 8 years. This estimate includes various State and Federal tax incentives now in place.
The SolarBeam is warranted by the manufacturer for 10 years on all hard components, and 5 years on the electronics, however, with a small annual fee of $350, this warranty can be extended.
Southern New England Solar-Technologies LLC (SNES) is your authorized dealer and installer of the SolarBeam Concentrator serving Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
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