Sopogy

Sopogy

Type	Venture backed private
Industry	Solar Energy
Founded	2002
Founder(s)	Darren T. Kimura
Headquarters	Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Key people	Darren T. Kimura(Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer) Michael P. Loo(Chief Financial Officer) Jim Norvelle
Products	Concentrated Solar Panels
Website	sopogy.com

Sopogy a solar thermal technology supplier was founded in 2002 at the Honolulu, Hawaii based clean technology incubator known as Energy Laboratories. The company began its research on concentrating solar thermal energy to produce steam and thermal heat for absorption chillers. The company has also developed applications that incorporate its solar collectors to generate electricity. Sopogy's name origin comes from industry key words "SO" from Solar "PO" from "Power" and "GY" from "Energy and Technology" The company has a Research and Development team located in Honolulu, HI, with a Silicon Valley manufacturing facility.

MicroCSP Technologies

Sopogy coined the term "MicroCSP" in which Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) collectors are based on the designs used in traditional Concentrating Solar Power systems found in the Mojave Desert but are smaller in collector size, lighter and operate at lower thermal temperatures usually below 600 °F (316 °C). These systems are designed for modular field or rooftop installation where they are easy to protect from high winds, snow and humid deployments.

SopoHelios

SopoHelios™ is Sopogy’s high heat classification collector (50-326 degrees C or 122-620 degrees F). It is a single-axis tracking parabolic trough solar collector designed to reduce the cost of ground mounted MicroCSP solar fields. SopoHelios collectors have 7.61 meters squared (82 square feet) of reflective area for greater field efficiency and include a lightweight structural core for improved torsion, strength and durability; component parts for quicker installation; and improved optical efficiency. SopoHelios is used in Solar Thermal Air Conditioning, Power Generation and High Temperature Heat Processes including Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas extraction.

SopoNova

SopoNova™ is Sopogy’s medium heat classification collector (50-270 degrees C or 122-518 degrees F) designed for distributed generation installations that include ground mounting or rooftops. The technology operates similarly to conventional parabolic trough systems used in California since the mid 1980's but modified to reduce the physical size and is similarly manufactured to fluorescent lighting luminares or automotive parts. The package ships flat and unassembled. The system uses an integrated 270 degree tracking, customized stands, and controls. Image of SopoNova 4.0

SopoFlare

Sopogy, Inc. introduced SopoFlare at Solar Power International 2009 in Anaheim. SopoFlare is the first commercially available Concentrating Solar Power technology designed specifically for rooftop installations. The technology is used to create steam, solar thermal air conditioning, drying, dehumidification, desalination, hot water.

SopoLite

SopoLite is a mobile concentrating solar power unit used to collect solar radiation and weather data. In addition the Sopolite can be used to generate energy for portable applications including power, air conditioning or heat.

The name SopoLite supposedly comes from the term Satellite as the device is designed to be a stand-alone instrument. Sopogy is deploying similar SopoLite’s across the US and around the World in an effort to collect relevant solar data useful for evaluating locations across the globe to determine the quality of their solar resources.

Projects

In 2007 a collaboration between Sopogy and Avista Utilities was announced for a MicroCSP deployment at the Avista Clean Energy Test Site

In 2008, a joint announcement between Sopogy of the USA, Inypsa of Spain and Omniwatt of Germany was made discussing a 50 megawatt project in Toledo Spain.

In 2009, Sopogy inaugurated Holaniku at Keahole Point, a .1 Megawatt MicroCSP Solar Thermal Plant project on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. This project is connected to the Hawaiian Electric Industries grid under a Power Purchase Agreement and is only one of a small handful of grid connected solar thermal power plants in the United States. It was also the first MicroCSP Power project in the World. According to Jay Holman, lead analyst for IDC Energy Insights' Renewable Energy Strategies program, "The HKP project was an important test of the feasibility of the micro CSP approach in general, and Sopogy's approach in particular … only time will tell if the company will be able to compete in a world of rapidly falling costs for PV plants."

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  1000 Sopogy SopoNova Collectors at Holaniku

Also in 2009, Sopogy introduced a solar air conditioning project with Southern California Gas Company

In 2010, Sopogy completed a hybrid electricity and H2O system at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg Florida. Masdar City in Abu Dhabi successfully activated a 50-ton air conditioning system driven by Sopogy’s MicroCSP collectors. In November of that year Kalaeloa Solar One and the State of Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Homelands announced a 5MW electrical project using Sopogy Solar technologies. In December 2010, Yu Hao Long announced a Memorandum of Understanding to purchase 200MW of Sopogy's solar technology for the development of a Concentrating Solar Power project with the Chinese National Grid

In 2011, the Fort Bliss Air Force Base in Texas installed a 40-ton MicroCSP air conditioning system. Johnson Controls and SunQuest implemented the project with 84 SopoNova collectors.

Awards

In January 2008 Sopogy was named the "Venture Capital Deal of the Year,"

In July 2008 Sopogy was awarded the New Product of the Year Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers for its SopoNova 4.0 product. This was the first solar technology to have received the award. Past recipients include Boeing for the 777 and Mercedes Benz for the M-Class.

In September 2008 Sopogy was selected as a finalist for Platt's Global Energy Awards

In 2008 Sopogy won the Pacific Business News' Business Leadership Award for Innovative Company of the Year

Also in 2008 it was the recipient of Hawaii Governor's Innovation Award.

In March 2009, Sopogy's SopoNova 4.0 product was selected as the Winner of Plant Engineering Magazine's Product of the Year 2008 Gold Award.

In 2010, Sopogy was awarded the Hawaii Business Magazine Smallbiz Success Award

In 2011, Sopogy won the APEC 2011 Hawaii Business Innovation Showcase award for Honolulu

Investors

The company has secured 4 rounds of venture capital investment totaling over $20 million. In 2007 Sopogy was autorized $10 million in Special Purpose Revenue Bonds by the State of Hawaii and in 2008 the company received an additional $35 million.

Controversy

In July 2011, while aspiring to be elected Mayor of Honolulu, Panos Prevedouros, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Hawaii, published an article challenging Sopogy's claims regarding a power plant on the Big Island of Hawaii that uses Sopogy products. The article states that Sopogy generated power is inefficient and expensive and encourages the State of Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Homelands and the Hawaii Public Utility Commission to seriously question cooperating in further Sopogy projects.

Several sources including NREL claim the site generates a net output of between 2MW and 500 KW. Prevedouros’ research, including conversations with equipment suppliers to the project, suggests the plant generates less than 100 KW, one fifth to one twentieth of the figures claimed.

Mr. Prevedouros notes that Hawaii Electric Industries’ 2010 Annual Report does not show any power supplied by the Sopogy plant to the Big Island’s grid.

The project’s cost is stated as $20 million, with an output of 100KW, resulting in a cost of $200/watt. The article suggests this compares poorly with the approximately $5/watt cost of photovoltaic panels.

External links

• Sopogy, official web site