Solar Engineering Applications, LLC

Solar energy is the most valuable natural resource on our planet.

Any country on earth can achieve total energy independence by developing the solar resource that is available within its own borders.  

Wide-spread utilization of solar energy will reduce economic pressures and political tensions that are associated with the irregular distribution of fossil fuel reserves.

The base technologies for efficiently utilizing the solar resource already exist.  No scientific breakthroughs or new technology developments are required—we just need systems that effectively integrate technologies that we already have.

At SEA, our mission has been to create these solar-enabling systems—the systems that will make sunlight the primary energy resource that countries all over the world rely on to meet their energy needs.  And we’ve succeeded. We’ve accomplished our primary objectives. We’ve integrated existing solar-related technologies to create practical solar energy conversion/storage systems that can be deployed anywhere people live and work, even in locations where latitude or weather conditions significantly reduce available sunlight.  Our systems efficiently convert solar radiation into the types of energy our modern industrial societies require and they provide for long-term storage of that energy so we’ll have it whenever we need it.

SEA has designed, patented, and will soon begin working with partners to perform prototype demonstrations of a revolutionary solar energy conversion system.  This innovative system incorporates both state-of-the-art PV technology and proven CSP technology.

Picture of our system with arrows from each of the above figures pointing to it.

OUR SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM

The SEA solar energy conversion system has rows of parabolic trough reflectors that focus solar radiation onto actively-cooled arrays of solar cells.  The solar cells produce electricity and liquid coolant flowing through cooling channels that support the solar cell arrays collects valuable low-grade thermal energy from the irradiated cells—energy that is normally discarded as waste heat.  Overall, our systems convert between 85 and 90 percent of collected light into useful thermal energy and electricity.

OUR PROCESSES FOR LONG-TERM ENERGY STORAGE

SEA uses proven Borehole Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (BSTES) technology to transfer thermal energy to underground storage reservoirs (undisturbed layers of soil, gravel, rock, etc.) by means of borehole heat exchangers.  The accumulated thermal energy stored in this way can be reclaimed from the storage medium as needed—after days, weeks, or even months of storage—for use locally in applications such as space heating and hot water heating for homes and businesses, or as process heat for industrial or agricultural operations.  SEA systems make very efficient use of land area, meaning that they can be located near the energy markets they serve. This is important because the valuable low-grade thermal energy provided by our systems cannot be efficiently transported over long distances. It must be used locally.

SEA uses electrolysis-storage-reconversion (ESR) processes to store electrical energy. In general, ESR processes consist of three main steps: (1) electrolysis of a chemical compound to produce a fuel that can be stored for long periods of time, (2) combustion of the fuel in a heat engine to produce mechanical energy, and (3) utilization of the mechanical energy to perform a desired task, such as driving an electrical generator or powering a transportation vehicle. Until now, ESR processes have not been viable energy storage techniques, primarily because of the inefficiencies associated with existing heat engines.  SEA has developed a high-efficiency two-stroke internal combustion engine that makes the ESR approach cost-effective. When integrated with efficient electrolysis technology and recent advances in fuel storage capabilities, our engine enables a practical sequence of processes that provide cost-effective seasonal storage of electricity.

IN SUMMARY

SEA solar energy conversion systems convert solar radiation into thermal energy (heat), electrical energy, and with the help of a few intermediate steps, the chemical energy of fuels.  These are the forms of energy that we use every day in our homes, in our businesses, in our factories, and in our vehicles—and these are the forms of energy that SEA systems provide.

SEA solar energy conversion systems are flexible, meaning that it’s possible to adjust the relative amounts of the different types of energy produced.  SEA systems can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the energy markets they serve.

The efficiency of SEA solar energy conversion systems is independent of system size.  This means that our systems can be scaled to meet the demands of energy markets of any size, from individual farms or businesses, to residential neighborhoods or industrial parks or even large cities.  

SEA solar energy conversion systems can be cost-effectively operated almost anywhere, even in locations where latitude or weather conditions significantly reduce available sunlight.  This means that the types of energy needed in a particular locality can be produced in that locality, eliminating the costs associated with long-distance energy transport. It also means that energy infrastructure can be decentralized, and this creates jobs and a broad range of other socioeconomic benefits at the local level.     

The most important feature of SEA solar energy conversion systems is that they can be easily interfaced with technologies that can provide long-term storage of the thermal and electrical energy that they produce.  The SEA approach to storing thermal energy involves proven BSTES technology with borehole heat exchangers (e.g. www.dlsc.ca).  The SEA approach to storing electricity involves ESR processes which produce useful fuels as an intermediate step.  The fuels can be stored indefinitely and then burned in internal combustion engines for transportation vehicles or other applications, including driving electrical generators.  The regeneration of electricity by ESR processes is cost-effective because of the SEA’s development of a high-efficiency internal combustion engine which greatly increases the end-to-end efficiency of the ESR processes.  When integrated with SEA’s solar energy conversion systems, these cost-effective technologies for storage of both low-grade thermal energy and electricity eliminate the last major impediment to large-scale, world-wide deployment of solar energy conversion systems.

During the next few decades, our SEA systems—and similar systems patterned after ours—will transform the global energy industry and dramatically change the economies of countries all over the world.  With these new systems, any country on earth can become energy independent and free forever of the economic and political burdens associated with fossil fuels.

THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY OUR SITE.

Please scan through the links above to learn more about SEA systems and how they interact with that phenomenal natural resource we call the sun.  See how we collect solar energy, convert it into the types of energy we use every day, and store it for the long term so we’ll have all the energy we need, whenever we need it, no matter where we live.  This is what we have all been working for. This is the dawn of a new age—the Solar Age.