1.
Our goal is to make renewable energy affordable in rural areas through technology transfer and training for local manufacture.
STG has developed a novel miniature solar thermal power plant using a low cost and easy to manufacture parabolic trough collector and an Organic Rankine Cycle power block constructed from widely available HVAC parts.
We see a great potential in this approach for supplying power to remote institutions such as health centers and schools that are expensive to electrify by conventional means. Schools and clinics provide critical services in areas where over 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity, and to perform effectively they need sustainable and reliable electricity as well as hot water: most rural clinics have 4-5 permanent staff and see around 100 patients per day, while many rural schools board students in dormitories on campus.
Solar ORC
specifications
3kWe Power
25kWh daily +
m3 hot water
USD 33,000
Maintenance
included
Off-grid
Clinics
There are over 100,000 rural service providers worldwide in unelectrified areas (a 2.7b USD market), and many of these areas have excellent DNI solar resources. Until now, the choices for distributed generation at the kilowatt scale included mainly photovoltaics or Diesel generators and the additional purchase of a solar thermal or gas-fired water heater. With a locally-produced Solar ORC, the electricity is less expensive on a levelized cost basis and the hot water is included. Using a Solar ORC saves 4,500 liters of Diesel fuel and avoids 3 tons of CO2 annually.