The Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC), one of the world’s largest solar technology test facilities, powers up

Abengoa Solar, one of the six developers, will set up a parabolic trough collector experimental site linked to an assembly plant located within the facility for testing and validating the company’s new technological designs.

Following a meeting held on the 21st of October in Aurora, Colorado,the developers and sponsors of the Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC), one of the world’s largest solar technology testing sites, announced the imminent facility start-up.

After the meeting was convened, SolarTAC partners also announced the incorporation of two new members to the project: the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Both entities signed the agreement to join SolarTAC.

Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer thus underscored the impact SolarTAC will have on both the city’s economy and the emerging solar industry. The city of Aurora has set aside 1,898 acres of land for the project.

In turn, Hank Price, Abengoa Solar’s vice president of Technology Development in the United States, stated that he is looking forward to seeing the technological progress we are able to make through SolarTAC. This place represents a long-term testing center for Abengoa Solar R&D technologies, and will enable universities, laboratories and research institutes to work together in the field of solar power.

SolarTAC is a product of the agreement reached in 2008 among six public and private sector entities (Abengoa Solar, the City of Aurora, the Colorado Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. Midwest Research Institute (MRI), SunEdison and Xcel Energy) to build a facility in which its members can test their own technologies, especially those at the early commercial or near-commercial stage of development. The center is also intended be a place for solar technology information exchange, as the facilities afford the opportunity to test operational performance.

Since the project was announced in 2008, preparation of the facility has come a long way, and as a result SolarTAC components can now begin the deployment and demonstration testing of the different solar technologies.

Abengoa Solar plans to implement a parabolic trough collector experimental site linked to an assembly plant for testing and validating new designs for the company’s technologies. At present, Abengoa Solar is featuring various modules of its “Astro” collector design, one of the collectors the company currently markets.

Abengoa Solar focuses its activities on the development and application of technological innovations for generating electric power with the sun. Abengoa Solar is headquartered in Lakewood (Colorado), where the company has 16,404 ft. of office and assembly plant space, and a headcount of 70 employees conducting the company’s activities in the areas of engineering, research and development, and manufacturing. Abengoa Solar also has U.S. offices in Arizona and California. (www.abengoasolar.com).

Abengoa is a technology provider applying innovative solutions for sustainability in the infrastructure, environmental and energy sectors. The company is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange and is present in more than seventy countries, where it operates through its five Business Units: Solar, Bioenergy, Environmental Services, Information Technologies, and Industrial Engineering and Construction.

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