BUSINESS REVIEW

RENEWABLE ENERGY - SOLAR

Stirling Energy Systems (SES) first year in the NTR portfolio has been particularly eventful. Throughout 2008, the priority for the concentrating solar power manufacturer has been to commercialise its SunCatcher solar power system within a compressed timeframe, with the aim of commencing the construction of its first utility scale power plants in 2010.

Over the twelve months, SES has made significant progress in achieving full commercialisation, including the initial build of its high volume production design. Compared to alternative concentrating solar technologies, the SunCatcher technology offers a low cost power and low water usage and is set to redefine the concentrating solar market.

This strong progress has been marked by the successful achievement of a series of milestones throughout the year. World class supply chain partners with expertise in high volume manufacturing have been selected, sub-components have been tested and manufacturing processes mapped out. In addition, the new SunCatcher design has been validated with its demonstration systems successfully installed “on sun”, achieving key efficiency and reliability targets.

Part of this progress is attributable to the build out of a world class design and manufacturing organisation. Following NTR’s investment, SES has doubled in size, with key industry leaders added to the team in critical areas such as manufacturing, supply chain, business development, engineering and finance. The organisation is now well placed to service the rapidly growing order pipeline being developed by its sister project development organisations, Tessera Solar North America and Tessera Solar International.