Aug 12 2010
The Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC), one of the biggest solar power technology testing facilities in the U.S., has added the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (Alliance) as one of its sponsoring members. The Alliance operates and manages the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Situated in Colorado, SolarTAC is a member-based, private facility wherein the solar industry demonstrates, validates and tests sophisticated solar technologies. In 2008, SolarTAC was introduced by a consortium that included Midwest Research Institute (MRI).
Recently, the Alliance inked a membership contract with SolarTAC on NREL’s behalf. By means of this membership, the researchers of NREL can obtain access to a new, extensive, commercial-scale, collaborative facility. SolarTAC will assist advance the goal of NREL to accelerate the solar energy technologies’ commercial adoption as well as enhance the role of NREL to test and develop sophisticated solar energy technologies.
SolarTAC is the result of joint efforts by Xcel Energy, SunEdison, Midwest Research Institute (MRI), the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, the City of Aurora and Abengoa Solar to establish a facility wherein member organizations can bring their near-commercial or early commercial stage solar technologies for the purpose of demonstration and testing under real field conditions.
Source: http://www.allianceforsustainableenergy.org/