Microgrid Solar Technology Innovations for Reducing Fuel Costs by Up to 90%
For remote microgrids, such as islands and off-grid communities, mines, and industrial facilities, it is difficult and expensive to reduce fuel costs for diesel gensets by more than 30% using PV plus batteries. This presentation will introduce a unique microgrid configuration that offers fuel cost reductions of up to 90% while completely eliminating the need for dirty gensets. The core power source of these microgrids is an innovative solar plant that generates firmly dispatchable, uninterruptible power 24/7/365. The solar plants simultaneously produce heat that can be used in a wide variety of applications, including crop drying, industrial processes, water purification, etc. This patented technology has its origins at MIT and was developed with partial funding from the US Department of Energy.
Speaker:
Bruce Norman Anderson
CEO
247Solar
Bruce Norman Anderson is considered one of the solar industry's foremost pioneers and currently is the Chairman and CEO of 247Solar Inc. of Great Falls, Virginia. This firm is commercializing a modular, coal-competitive concentrated solar power (CSP) system based on two clean-energy technologies invented at MIT: an ultra-efficient industrial heat exchanger and an ultra-efficient microturbine. This system, the 247 Solar Plant, is designed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of weather, at costs competitive with fossil-fuel-generated electricity. 247Solar is an MIT-related spin-off enterprise launched by Ignite Technology Ventures, an incubator Bruce founded in 2000 to commercialize MIT technologies.
Bruce began his clean-energy career more than four decades ago in 1973 when he completed his MIT masters-degree thesis in architecture on applications of solar energy to building design. By age 30, this manuscript had been published by McGraw-Hill in 1977 as the professional book Solar Energy: Fundamentals in Building Design and as the bestselling popular book, The Solar Home Book (Brick House/ Cheshire Books, 1977). Both books were translated into several languages. He has also authored or coauthored four other energy books.
During the mid-1970s, Bruce founded T.E.A. Inc., which became a world-renown architecture and engineering firm and founded and published Solar Age, the industry leading magazine. In 1985, he became the first recipient of the American Solar Energy Society's Lifetime Solar Contribution Award. He was a founding director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (then known as the New England Solar Energy Society), served on the National Advisory Board of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now the National Renewable Energy Institute, or NREL), and has testified twice before the US Congress on energy matters. He also ran for governor of New Hampshire in 1986 - at a time when he was often referred to as "Mr. Solar."
In 1990, working with Earth Day founder Senator Gaylord Nelson, Bruce cofounded Earth Day USA to convert the event from a 10-year anniversary celebration to an annual international event. He was also the founding co-chair of the New England Clean Energy Council in 2008 and the 2011 recipient of its Clean Energy Leadership Award.
At MIT Bruce served as Visiting Professor and as Director of its Industrial Liaison Program from 1995 to 2000. He has also served as president of the MIT Alumni Club of Boston and as a director on the International Board of the MIT Alumni Association. He is past president of the MIT Crew Alumni Association and has served as a member of the MIT Corporation - its board of trustees. He is a recipient of MIT's highest service award to its alumni, the Bronze Beaver.
CEO
247Solar
Bruce Norman Anderson is considered one of the solar industry's foremost pioneers and currently is the Chairman and CEO of 247Solar Inc. of Great Falls, Virginia. This firm is commercializing a modular, coal-competitive concentrated solar power (CSP) system based on two clean-energy technologies invented at MIT: an ultra-efficient industrial heat exchanger and an ultra-efficient microturbine. This system, the 247 Solar Plant, is designed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of weather, at costs competitive with fossil-fuel-generated electricity. 247Solar is an MIT-related spin-off enterprise launched by Ignite Technology Ventures, an incubator Bruce founded in 2000 to commercialize MIT technologies.
Bruce began his clean-energy career more than four decades ago in 1973 when he completed his MIT masters-degree thesis in architecture on applications of solar energy to building design. By age 30, this manuscript had been published by McGraw-Hill in 1977 as the professional book Solar Energy: Fundamentals in Building Design and as the bestselling popular book, The Solar Home Book (Brick House/ Cheshire Books, 1977). Both books were translated into several languages. He has also authored or coauthored four other energy books.
During the mid-1970s, Bruce founded T.E.A. Inc., which became a world-renown architecture and engineering firm and founded and published Solar Age, the industry leading magazine. In 1985, he became the first recipient of the American Solar Energy Society's Lifetime Solar Contribution Award. He was a founding director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (then known as the New England Solar Energy Society), served on the National Advisory Board of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now the National Renewable Energy Institute, or NREL), and has testified twice before the US Congress on energy matters. He also ran for governor of New Hampshire in 1986 - at a time when he was often referred to as "Mr. Solar."
In 1990, working with Earth Day founder Senator Gaylord Nelson, Bruce cofounded Earth Day USA to convert the event from a 10-year anniversary celebration to an annual international event. He was also the founding co-chair of the New England Clean Energy Council in 2008 and the 2011 recipient of its Clean Energy Leadership Award.
At MIT Bruce served as Visiting Professor and as Director of its Industrial Liaison Program from 1995 to 2000. He has also served as president of the MIT Alumni Club of Boston and as a director on the International Board of the MIT Alumni Association. He is past president of the MIT Crew Alumni Association and has served as a member of the MIT Corporation - its board of trustees. He is a recipient of MIT's highest service award to its alumni, the Bronze Beaver.