Solar Power World

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Cone Drive Gearing Solutions, part of the David Brown group, announced that it has signed an agreement with BrightSource Energy, to supply solar tracking drives for its 392megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California’s Mojave Desert. BrightSource’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is the world’s largest concentrated solar power complex under construction and the first utility‐scale solar thermal project built in California in nearly two decades.

At a time when many American companies are moving manufacturing operations off shore or shutting doors altogether, Cone Drive Gearing Solutions is celebrating its 85th year of operation by exploring how its high precision custom products can be utilized for applications in emerging US markets including solar power generation.

BrightSource’s LPT 550 solar thermal system produces electricity 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 thousands of computer controlled mirrors called heliostats to reflect sunlight onto a boiler filled with water that sits atop a tower. When the sunlight hits the boiler, the water inside is heated and creates high temperature steam. The steam is then piped to a conventional turbine which generates electricity. This fully integrated approach takes advantage of high operating efficiencies and low capital costs, providing reliable and low‐cost carbon‐ free energy.

Cone Drive, located in Traverse City, MI, is part of the global David Brown group. With 150 years at the forefront of the gearing industry, David Brown is internationally recognized as a leading provider of gearing products and support services. The group supplies to strategic industries through a network of specialist facilities and local people, serving local markets worldwide and is leveraging its global expertise through its focus on the renewable and emerging markets such as wind, hydro and solar. Cone Drive is maximizing the opportunities for growth that being part of a wider group brings.

Roberta Wagner, Managing Director of Cone Drive Solar said: “We are delighted to be chosen as a supplier for the Ivanpah project. This opportunity will be a source of job creation not only for us but for many of our U.S. based supply chain partners.”

Cone Drive