MIT Spinoff, 247Solar, Announces Emissions-Free Turbine

MIT Spinoff, 247Solar, Announces Emissions-Free Turbine

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Great Falls, VA, USA 247Solar Inc., a spinoff of MIT, along with microturbine supplier Capstone Turbine Corporation, today announced the successful test of a revolutionary commercial turbine that can generate electricity using hot air at atmospheric-pressure, without combustion. This breakthrough is made possible by an ultra-high temperature heat exchanger with technology that has its origins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The 247Solar Heat Exchanger™ uses a proprietary nickel-chromium-aluminum-iron alloy engineered for sustained operation at very high temperatures. For its size, the heat exchanger is the most compact and materials-efficient in the world. Its first application is the best-selling and most reliable small turbine in the world, the C200 microturbine from Capstone Turbine Corporation. This turbine is the heart of the first operational 247Solar Plant™, being built in California. The Plant includes a system that concentrates sunlight to heat air to a high-enough temperature that is then used to drive the turbine to produce electricity. The microturbine in combination with 247Solar’s technology offers one of the world’s most versatile, reliable, zero-carbon power generation solutions.
247SolarOVERVIEW: 247Solar, Inc. was formed in 2015 by solar industry pioneer Bruce Anderson to commercialize the 247Solar Plant™, using technology originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Bruce began his solar career with his master’s thesis at MIT on the subject of solar energy. In 1985, Bruce became the first recipient of the American Solar Energy Society’s Lifetime Solar Contribution Award. He later served on the National Advisory Board of the Solar Energy Research Institute, now the National Renewable Energy Institute (NREL).  In 2009, Anderson realized that a breakthrough high-efficiency heat exchanger, invented by MIT mechanical engineering professor Dr. David Gordon Wilson, and being developed by the company they formed together, Wilson TurboPower, would enable an entirely new approach to concentrated solar power (CSP) with higher performance and lower cost.  In 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the company $6 million to further advance the technology, and the engineering of key components began. In 2015, Anderson formed 247Solar and acquired Wilson TurboPower’s solar technology.  In 2018, 247Solar received private investment capital to enable the engineering and construction of its first full-scale 247Solar Plant. The Commercial Demonstrator, under construction at the Company’s Arizona facility, will commence operation in early 2022.  

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