Chemical Engineering @ChemengFiles.Com

Schott Solar is one of the initiators of the project DESERTEC, idea gestated in the U.S. in the 70s of last century, now wants to turn into reality. In this unique project, which will in future provide Europe with clean electricity from solar from North Africa and Arabia, German companies are participating, along with partners from Spain and Algeria.

The long term goal is to cover DESERTEC 2050 15% of EU electricity consumption by solar energy. The consortium wants to build solar thermal power plants, which are interconnected through a network of high power. This has been the main reason that SCHOTT Solar has become one of the initiators of the project.

"With DESERTEC laid the foundation for future sustainable European energy supply," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Ungeheuer, Chairman of the Board of Management of SCHOTT AG. "With the receiver tube supply the key component of solar thermal power plants. In this field, we consider technological and market leaders. We are working on a new generation of receivers.

The aim is to increase process temperatures to above 500 ° C, which, along with an improved construction, facilitate significantly reduce the costs of electricity generation, "says Ungeheuer.

The electricity project is based on desert solar plants parabolic mirrors as those already used successfully for over 20 years in the U.S., supplying electricity to entire cities.

The high quality products from SCHOTT Solar can exploit the virtually inexhaustible potential of the sun as a source of renewable energy. For this purpose SCHOTT Solar produces key components for photovoltaic applications and solar thermal power plants with parabolic trough technology. In the photovoltaic industry is one of the few fully integrated manufacturers of crystalline silicon wafers, solar cells and photovoltaic modules. In thin film technology, SCHOTT Solar is among the determinants companies thanks to its more than 20 years of experience. As for the production of receivers for solar thermal power plants with parabolic trough technology, SCHOTT Solar considers itself a leader in the market and technology. The receiver tubes are the key components of large thermal power plants, which from solar energy centrally generated electricity on the basis of parabolic trough technology and can supply entire cities. SCHOTT Solar manufactures in Germany, the Czech Republic, the U.S. and Spain. The capacity for innovation and technological competence of SCHOTT Solar goes back to the late 50 century. SCHOTT AG, Mainz, is the main shareholder of SCHOTT Solar AG. SCHOTT develops special materials, components and systems for the sectors of household appliances, pharmaceuticals, solar energy, electronics, optics and automotive. With its 17 300 employees, the SCHOTT Group generated in the 2007/2008 financial year global sales of 2.2 billion Euros.