RayGen has installed a 1 MW concentrated solar and thermal hydro long-duration energy storage system in Brazil with local power company Axia Energia, formerly known as Eletrobras, investigating the technology’s potential to help power ‘AI factories.’
RayGen Chief Executive Officer Richard Payne said the new facility is now fully operational, showcasing the Melbourne-based company’s integrated solar electricity generation and long-duration energy storage technology in one of the world’s fastest-evolving energy markets.
“This is a proud moment for RayGen and for Australian innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Payne said in a Linkedin post. “Our unique technology, which generates clean electricity and thermal energy, is being rolled out internationally.”
RayGen’s PV Ultra technology uses an array of mirrors, or heliostats, to concentrate sunlight onto PV modules located in a central receiver. The design enables the system to generate electricity for immediate use while the thermal water-based storage system, which uses heat captured from water that is used to cool the modules, provides dispatchable electricity via a turbine.
The Victorian company said its technology achieves 70% round-trip efficiency, which is significantly higher than other electro-thermal storage technologies on the market, and addresses the growing need for long-duration energy storage.
The new 1 MW facility, including a standalone PV Ultra system, comprising a heliostat field, receiver tower, PV Ultra modules and plant control system, has been deployed at Petrolina, in Brazil’s northeast.
Axia, responsible for 17% of the Brazil’s power generation capacity and 37% of the total transmission lines in the national interconnected system, said the Petrolina site is used to test innovative technologies under local conditions prior to their potential deployment at scale.
Axia Executive Vice President Technology and Innovation Juliano Dantas said pioneering RayGen’s technology opens up alternatives to combine renewable energy, energy storage, and inertia.
“It is about enabling solar generation driven by demand, with power quality, which is very much aligned with Axia Energy’s philosophy of serving the market,” he said, adding that the company “intends to further investigate how this system can help power AI factories.”
RayGen’s solar technology has been on show at a test facility at Newbridge in Victoria since 2015. The company also operates a commercial facility at Carwarp in the state’s northwest. That facility, that came online in 2023, consists of 4 MW solar and 3 MW / 50 MWh storage, capable of delivering 17 hours of continuous power to the electricity grid.
The Carwarp facility is under an offtake agreement with AGL which has also acquired the rights for an approved utility-scale project planned for Yadnarie, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
The Yadnarie project would include 200 MW of solar generation and thermal storage of 115 MW capable of running at full capacity for just over 10 hours (1,200 MWh.
