US-based American Building Technologies, a subsidiary of the UAE-based multinational group Mulk Holdings, has successfully tested an innovative solar collector panel known as Alubond Solar Collector Panel (SCP).

The US-patented SCP is an important technology breakthrough that improves efficiency and lowers production costs of solar energy globally, says a spokesman for Mulk Holdings.
He elaborates: “Conventional solar troughs used in solar generation are either in glass mirrors weighing over 12.5 kg per sq m or single-skin aluminium with a high-reflective laminated film, requiring heavy support structures and numerous riveting that reduce the efficiency of the troughs.
“Alubond SCP is a 3 mm composite weighing approximately 4 kg per sq m with a 92-per-cent reflectivity and offering a 20-year exterior performance warranty. The product's ability to retain a parabolic shape to precise coordinates and its lightweight features and innovative rivetless joining process substantially reduces the substructure costs.”
The solar trough system is expected to lower current costs of solar generation (using photo voltaic technology) by more than 50 per cent, he claims.
The panel was designed by ABTI managing partner Khurram Nawab and developed in the UAE R&D (research and development) facilities of Alubond.
The company added yet another feather to its cap, when the patented SCPs were tested and chosen for a $200 million-plus solar energy generation plant project in New Mexico City, US.
The 25-MW project was approved by a private energy firm based in Texas, for generating solar energy using Alubond solar collectors. The first phase will involve ABTI supplying 1.75 million sq ft of its SCPs from its Rockford and UAE production bases. Apart from the panels, ABTI will also supply 14,000 ‘ribs’ or support structures, to aid in conversion and storage of the solar energy, which is then transformed into electricity.
Negotiations are also on for another 250-MW solar trough project, which will require an additional 17.5 million sq ft of Alubond SCPs, which will also be supplied from both the Rockford and the UAE production bases.
Nawab comments: “This is a great achievement for both our Middle Eastern and American offices. Our solar collector panels were chosen on the basis of the highest solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency, their ability to retain the parabola shape without extensive support frame work (critical in reflecting solar light to the focal point besides reducing the cost of the trough system), the robust after-sales support mechanisms that we offer our clients and the most comprehensive warranty coverage for a solar panel.
“We also hope that the success of this project will lead to an upsurge in the development of more solar energy plants, which will not only lessen the strain on existing energy resources, but also severely reduce the pollution levels that are currently witnessed in power generation.”
He also hopes that the second phase of the project, scheduled to go ‘live’ in December 2009, would have great implications for the Gulf region and the Middle East energy requirements.
Alubond’s stellar performance in New Mexico City shows that the UAE-based solar panel manufacturer is perfectly poised to meet the solar energy needs of the region and make an impact on the global solar energy needs, the spokesman points out.
Mulk Holdings offers not only solar collector panels but also the entire support equipment to offer a one-stop solution for solar trough power generation systems, he adds.