Intersolar 2009 Award was made to NEP Solar for its new solar process heat collector, the PolyTrough 1200, which is now being manufactured in Sydney for local and export markets.

The award was presented to NEP Solar’s Chief Financial Officer Antoine Millioud and General Manager Projects Stefan Minder at a special ceremony held at Intersolar 2009 in Munich.

“We are very pleased with the award and we believe through innovation, quality design, life cycle approach and customer focus we will contribute to the uptake of solar thermal in the industrial and commercial sectors,” NEP Solar’s CEO Johan Dreyer said.

Intersolar 2009 is one of the most important platforms in the world for showcasing ground-breaking technologies and innovations in solar thermal technology and photovoltaics. This year there are 1,400 exhibitors presenting their products to over 60,000 visitors, in an area covering 100,000 square metres.

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NEP Solar said the prototype is centred on a proprietary polymeric reflector, deploying various design features which will lead to lower life cycle costs for NEP Solar’s clients. The parabolic trough collector is designed to generate heat at 120 degrees Celsius to 220 degrees Celsius for industrial processes as well as commercial solar cooling, large scale water heating and distributed power generation. It can deliver cooling and heating solutions for facilities such as shopping malls, factories, plants, warehouses and other big buildings at a competitive cost to other systems.

“Solar process heat is the sleeping giant of solar thermal,” said Mr Millioud, “as a significant part of primary energy consumption stems from medium temperature industrial applications, it is essential that solar process heat experiences a similar uptake in this sector as seen for solar domestic water heating in the residential area.”

NEP Solar’s prototype PolyTrough 1200 was successfully developed with assistance from a grant under the Australian Government Renewable Energy Development Initiative and was tested at the CSIRO Energy Centre in Newcastle.