AMHERST - An Amherst area firm is receiving financial assistance from the province to support an emerging technology that uses the sun's rays to heat water.
Solartron Energy Systems Inc. is receiving just over $50,000 through the province's ecoNova Scotia Fund for Clean Air and Climate Change to help with its manufacturing of SolarBeam Concentrators.
"Our system is a solar concentrator that produces energy from the sun. It's one of the most advanced technologies on the market," Solartron CEO Edward Herniak said Friday. "Many people are familiar with the flat panel collectors, but our system is up to 200 per cent more efficient than this conventional technology."
The SolarBeam concentrator is shaped somewhat like a large satellite dish, but with a reflecting surface that captures the sun's beams. The system produces four kilowatts an hour and a heat exchanger transfers that energy to heat a water supply that can be used for either heating or cooling.
"The technology is exciting and speaks to the innovation that's taking place in the green energy sector in Nova Scotia," Premier Darrell Dexter said following the announcement. "I think the work that's being done by this company and others, like LED Roadway, are just a sign of how we can take advantage of the fact that the world is increasingly trying to cut greenhouse gases and reduce their reliance on the international fossil fuel market."
Funding for projects such as Solartron's is an example of the province's plan to cuts its fossil fuel consumption to at least 10 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. The premier said doing that is going to cost about $1.5 billion in capital investment.
"That's a tremendous amount of money that will be going into various forms of renewable energy and some of the technologies here are examples of the technologies that will help us reach the goals we want to reach," Dexter said.
Herniak is looking forward to using the technology in Nova Scotia and exporting his company's product around the world. He's already had interest from Europe, Africa, Australia and the United States.
The funding from the province will be used to help Solartron produce the collectors in a more cost effective manner. Right now, it costs between $17,000 and $20,000 to install a unit.
"This will make us more competitive with other technologies," said Herniak, adding the patent is pending on the product and it has many potential applications. "The uses are endless. You could use it for industrial applications, a hospital environment or commercial applications like grocery chains."
The Municipality of Cumberland is getting $9,754 to install one of Solartron's concentrators at the E.D. Fullerton Municipal Building in Upper Nappan. Two similar units are used by Sobeys at its Big 8 bottling facility in Stellarton while the company uses collectors at its own facility in Warren, just outside Amherst.
dcole@amherstdaily.com
