Lark Energy, part of The Larkfleet Group of Companies, has received the highest recognition for its participation in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Cranfield University.
Following an independent assessment, the KTP between Lark Energy and Cranfield received the highest grade.
Lark Energy is the proud recipient of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership Certificate of Excellence from KTP organisers Innovate UK – the trading name of the Technology Strategy Board.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership ran from May 2014 to August 2016. Its purpose was to design and implement a monitoring procedure for renewable energy technology. It was also designed to obtain valuable output data to assist in taking a renewable energy R&D project to market and investigate further applications of the technology.
Lark Energy and Cranfield University were awarded the highest grade of ‘Outstanding’ for meeting the objectives of the partnership with the innovative Solar Steam project.
Larkfleet’s ‘solar steam’ technology concentrates the power of the sun’s rays to heat water to create steam which can be used in industrial processes.
Solar Steam provides an opportunity for investment to increase renewable heat input and reduce energy costs. For example, industrial facilities that use fossil fuels to provide the thermal energy required for their processes can instead install the Larkfleet solar steam collector to generate low carbon heat.
The Larkfleet solar steam system works by focussing the sun’s rays through a Fresnel lens array onto a tube which contains water. The water is heated to create steam which can be used in industrial process heating and cooling applications.
The angle of the lens array can be adjusted through a vertical axis to track the sun and is seated on a circular track which allows the array also to follow the sun’s progress horizontally across the sky. By tracking in both planes, the system maintains maximum levels of solar radiation concentrated on the tubes.
Lark Energy’s Simone Perini said: “We are delighted to have received this outstanding recognition from Innovate UK.
“Solar steam builds on existing ideas about using solar radiation to generate heat and takes them a step further.
“Following extensive testing in the UK – where the weather is often not ideal for solar power! – we are taking this technology to a wider market where we believe it will have a positive impact on the generation of sustainable and renewable heat.”
The project has been the subject of a peer reviewed academic paper which can be found here https://www.journals.elsevier.com/solar-energy/
© 2022 Solar Steam All Rights Reserved | Solar Steam is part of Phoenix Sustainable Investments Ltd