In less than a year, ABB has made a number of significant investments, including the purchase of Baldor. Most of the investments made by ABB recently have centered around alternative energy. Those energy sector investments continue.
The newest move by ABB has been to acquire a 35 percent stake in Novatec Solar, a concentrated solar power (CSP) technology company based in Karlsruhe, Germany. Novatec Solar is a provider of Linear Fresnel CSP technology which uses flat mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy onto a receiver to produce steam. The solar-produced steam reduces the need for fossil fuels to generate electricity in existing or new power stations, as well as in process plants and other industrial applications where heat is required.
The company’s use of flat glass and common steel in its low-lying mirror modules are what makes it stand out in the CSP field. These factors reportedly also make its panels easier to assemble and install.
Novatec Solar’s patented Linear Fresnel technology has been demonstrated at a 1.4 MW plant connected to the Spanish electricity grid since March 2009. The company is currently constructing what is considered to be the world’s first commercial 30 MW Linear Fresnel power plant, also in Spain, and recently won an order to retrofit a solar field to a 2,000 MW coal-fired power plant in Australia. The company has also developed an automated manufacturing process for its solar products as well as a solar field cleaning system.
ABB’s stake in Novatec adds further solar industry support to the company’s alternative energy investments, which have recently included spending in the water and wind power industries. You can read more about those investments here: http://goo.gl/yPz08
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