written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . april 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message skyline solar scalable energy systems type private industry solar energy founded 2007 headquarters 185 e. dana street mountain view ca 94041 united states area served worldwide key people tom rohrs ceo and executive chairman bob macdonald co founder and chief technical officer products skyline solar x14 cpv system website skyline solar skyline solar was a concentrated photovoltaic cpv company based in mountain view california . the company developed medium concentration photovoltaic systems to produce electricity for commercial industrial and utility scale solar markets . the company was founded in 2007 by bob macdonald bill keating and eric johnson . it appears to have quit operations in late 2012 and has deactivated its website http www.skyline solar.com . contents 1 engineering challenges posed by concentration 2 technical details 3 skyline s design 3 4 target pv markets 5 references 6 external links engineering challenges posed by concentration edit the output of the pv system can be increased with improvements in cell efficiency the use of trackers concentration and other more subtle engineering improvements . tracking provides up to thirty percent more energy per peak watt compared to fixed tilt non tracking systems . controlling the temperature of the cells in a cpv system is critical to high energy generation because higher cell temperatures reduce the output of the panel . skyline solar uses a combination of tracking cooling fins and reflectors to focus light on a single strip of silicon cells and maximize energy production . 1 2 technical details edit skyline solar s x14 array skyline solar s x14 system combines crystalline silicon arrays with reflectors single axis trackers and cooling fins to create a system in which sunlight is concentrated 14 times hence the name x14 . integrated trackers adjust the position of the reflectors so that light remains concentrated on the solar cells while the sun travels across the sky . long rows of arrays are oriented north south and the tracker rotates east to west to optimize the light capture . skyline s design 3 edit the skyline solar x14 system consists of three principal components panels reflectors and an integrated single axis tracker . the photograph shows one skyline x14 array which is rated at 3780 dc watts stc using the 1000 watts per square meter dni standard or 3520 dc watts using the 850 w m2 standard used in italy . a typical installation would include as few as 28 or as many as 20 000 arrays installed in many long rows . panels silicon cells represent the great majority of the cost of any large conventional pv system . skyline s design replaces most of the silicon with mirrors . reflectors concentrate sunlight by a factor of 14 and this allows skyline to use 1 14 as much silicon as flat panel tracking systems and 1 20 as much as non tracking flat panel . to keep the panels operating efficiently skyline bonds large aluminum cooling fins to the back of each panel . if unfolded each fin would cover an area more than 40 times larger than the face of the solar panel itself . natural convection aided by the wind keeps the panels operating at temperatures comparable to conventional pv modules . reflectors skyline s x14 reflectors are near parabolic in cross section and their patented shape allows them to focus light uniformly on the solar panels . uniform flux enhances system efficiency . in addition the skyline x14 reflector design enables a tight optical coupling between adjacent arrays . this maximizes energy production regardless of the angle at which sunlight strikes the mirrors . integrated single axis trackers the higher the concentrating power of a cpv system the more precisely it must be aimed . if you ve ever tried to look at the moon through powerful binoculars you probably noticed you could not hold them steady enough to keep the moon in the center of the image . because it is a medium concentration system the skyline x14 system has a wide acceptance angle . this is the angle as seen from the pv system s lens or mirror between the sun s actual location and the spot in the sky that the concentrator is actually pointing at . skyline s acceptance angle is 1.3 of azimuth and 60 of elevation . target pv markets edit cpv technology has been adopted primarily from large commercial and utility scale customers in highly sunny locations such as the us southwest western india italy and chile . as is true for most cpv technologies skyline s products are not suited for residential or commercial rooftop installations . skyline solar inc. was a 2008 winner of a department of energy solar energy technology program grant . the company installed its first system at the san jose based valley transit authority vta on may 15 2009 . 4 references edit skyline solar mixes old technology with new skyline shows off unique concentrating solar arrays skyline solar architecture vta & skyline solar kick off power plant partnership external links edit v t e solar power in the united states solar power energy in the united states by state alabama alaska arizona arkansas california colorado connecticut delaware florida georgia hawaii idaho illinois indiana iowa kansas kentucky louisiana maine maryland massachusetts michigan minnesota mississippi missouri montana nebraska nevada new hampshire new jersey new mexico new york north carolina north dakota ohio oklahoma oregon pennsylvania rhode island south carolina south dakota tennessee texas utah vermont virginia washington d.c. west virginia wisconsin wyoming power plants current agua caliente alamosa antelope valley avenal avra valley blue wing blythe photovoltaic brockton california valley campo verde solar project catalina centinela cimarron copper mountain crescent dunes davidson county desert sunlight desoto el dorado genesis solar energy project holaniku imperial county imperial valley ivanpah kimberlina long island martin mesquite mojave mount signal nellis nevada solar one red hills san luis valley sierra suntower silver state north solana solar energy generating systems solar star space coast sunset topaz webberville wyandot planned and under construction alamo amargosa blythe boulder buckthorn california flats castle gap desert harvest four brothers lamesa mccoy moapa north rosamond north star panoche valley redwood rice roserock silver state south soda mountain sonoran springbok stateline sun streams sunshine valley three cedars westlands white camp willow springs companies abengoa solar ascent solar ausra bp solar brightsource esolar enviromission first solar grape solar heliopower meridian solar practical solar sharp solar skyfuel skyline solar solaren solarreserve solopower sopogy stratosolar stirling energy systems sunedison sunrun yingli organizations american council on renewable energy solar energy industries association residential solar power 1bog citizenre community solar farm heliopower pace financing rec solar sungevity solarcity solarstrong sunlight solar energy sundog solar sunetric sunrun sunpower category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title skyline solar & oldid 698895335 categories photovoltaics manufacturerssolar energy companies of the united statescompanies based in mountain view californiamanufacturing companies based in californiaenergy companies established in 2007manufacturing companies established in 2007renewable resource companies established in 2007american companies established in 2007hidden categories articles with a promotional tone from april 2012all articles with a promotional tone navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more 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