13 December 2011

Soitec launches Sunidarity initiative with donation of Plug&Sun CPV mini-tracker to three development aid organizations

Soitec of Bernin, France, which makes engineered substrates including silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers (as well as III-V epiwafers through its Picogiga International division), intends to provide remote locations in very sunny regions with a solution facilitating access to electricity due to its concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology. Soitec is launching the first edition of its Sunidarity program for development aid organizations in order to support their efforts to promote economic and human development in these remote regions.

Soitec will support selected projects by donating its Plug&Sun CPV mini-tracker (launched this week). Consisting of 3m2 of high-efficiency modules with efficiency close to 30% and using a two-axis tracker to generate up to 2.3kWp of electricity, the Plug&Sun is claimed to be the first stand-alone mini-tracker, and can be used to generate electricity completely autonomously where it is needed most.

At present, 20% of the world’s population does not have access to electricity, but the vast majority of the affected regions boast tremendous potential for solar energy, says Soitec. Greater use of solar energy can help to combat both climate change over the long term and energy poverty, but this drive is reliant on technological innovation and on collective development aid initiatives, it adds.

Soitec says that it will choose the three projects that stand out in terms of: their innovation (achieving a genuine advance in local development); the difficulty of the challenge they overcome; and their degree of integration within a global development project. All applications will be considered (education, information, communication, health, agriculture, etc).

Soitec reckons that its mini-tracker should be of particular interest to organizations looking for installations that can be transported and set up easily. Organizations can submit their applications by 15 April 2012 directly on Soitec’s web-site.

As part of the Sunidarity initiative, Soitec is also setting up a partnership with global energy management specialist Schneider Electric to contribute to its energy and electrification of isolated areas access program.

See related items:

Soitec introduces portable CPV mini-tracker

Tags: Soitec CPV modules

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