BrightSource Energy, Inc. products
BrightSource Energy - Solar Thermal Energy System
BrightSource Energy’s proprietary solar thermal energy system is engineered to produce predictable, reliable and cost-competitive clean energy when needed most.BrightSource’s solar thermal energy systems generate power the same way as traditional power plants – by creating high temperature steam to turn a turbine. However, instead of using fossil fuels or nuclear power to create the steam, BrightSource uses the sun’s energy.
SFINCS
The SFINCS controls & monitors the solar field as part of the power plant. If the heliostats are thousands of individual burners that heat the receiver, then the SFINCS is their burner management system. The SFINCS includes all the solar field control functions from communication with the heliostats, weather and cameras, to aiming and calibration, to DCS interface for control setpoints and sensor data. The SFINCS User Interface provides the operators with visibility to all of this functionality.
Energy Storage
As electricity girds decarbonize, electricity storage, to match supply and demand, is becoming an ever more important issue. Thermal energy storage (TES) using molten salt is a proven, cost effective way of providing large scale bulk energy storage. Integration with a CSP plant or other charging system allows energy gathered to be stored in the form of heated molten salt, and then used as required to meet the demand requirements of the grid or to provide ancillary services. Together with energy storage, BrightSource extends production capacity. Our solar plants, integrated with thermal energy storage, effectively extend electricity production into later parts of the day and after sundown, when it is valued most by utilities and other power producers. This capability reduces the cost of renewable power, by increasing a plant’s capacity factor – the amount of energy produced in a given day - to offer higher asset utilization.
AIMING
Think of the heliostats as thousands of individual burners that heat the receiver. Precise and efficient SFINCS algorithms calculate the exact aiming point for each heliostat, using the Mirror Shape and Calibration information as well as precise location of each heliostat, receiver panels and other data. The Aiming Wizard provides input to the Flux Management System.
Computer Vision
Our system interprets infrared and visual range images to generate a precise mapping of flux and temperatures on the receiver and of the location of heliostat beams. The SFINCS uses this mapping as input to the Flux Management System and Calibration.
Heliostat Design
Low cost and high performance mechanical design, wireless communications and autonomous power, and maintenance-free. It’s a juggling act between large scale production, easy installation on site, and highly accurate parts that will focus their beams exactly where we want them.
Sfincs User Interface (Sui)
SFINCS User Interface (SUI) designed to give the plant operator one stop for solar field monitoring & control. Innovative Solar Field Viewer shows the status of thousands of heliostats at a glance. All the information on what’s happening now, trends and images from the field, clearly displayed on the user screen.
Wireless & Autonomous Heliostats
Our heliostats communicate wirelessly with the SFINCS via Access Points distributed throughout the field. Our proprietary protocol is designed for robustness and reliability, and of course secured by encryption. The SFINCS uses roaming to ensure no heliostat loses contact. The heliostats have autonomous power, generating and storing their own power for all their movements. Autonomous power and wireless communications add up to much lower solar field construction costs and time, as well as operational benefits from autonomous emergency responses.