The Dow Chemical Company, a world leader in science and technology, has showcased its Performance Fluid Business, which has expertise in developing high performance fluids for solar projects worldwide, at the two-day CSP, CPV, Thin Film Solar Summit held in Abu Dhabi early this month. Dow expert Christoph Lang participated in the summit and demonstrated Dow's global leadership in the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) industry. Dow's Performance Fluid Business has innovative products that help to harness the energy of the sun creating better environmental sustainability. Dowtherm A is a mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl that have the high temperature stability needed to harness such energy. The primary role of Dowtherm A is to collect heat energy from the sun and transport it to a power generating station that converts water into steam which in turn drives turbines to make electricity. “The Dow Chemical Company has already or is in the process of supplying enough Dowtherm globally to generate over 500 megawatts of electricity from the sun. This positions the Dow Performance Fluids Business as the leading supplier of heat transfer fluids in the world for parabolic trough based solar systems.” Speaking at the summit, Lang, technical service & development specialist for Heat Transfer Fluids from Dow, said “with year round sunshine, the Middle East region has a tremendous scope for harnessing the multiple benefits of solar energy. With the launch of landmark environment-friendly projects like MASDAR, as well as a plan to raise solar power generation capacity to 1500 MW, Abu Dhabi is fast positioning itself as a hub of solar power capability and expertise.” He added that “at Dow, we are committed to harnessing the true potential of the sun's power in order to achieve higher environment sustainability standards. Industry-leading thermal fluid technology, world-scale production and vast supply capabilities are unique assets that make Dow the preferred partner of choice for solar power projects globally.” Dow's Performance Fluid Business has been awarded several projects worldwide to supply heat transfer fluids for various solar power projects including the United States and Europe. Recent projects in Spain will be using over 5000 metric tons of Dowtherm A heat transfer fluids that will eventually generate electricity enough for about 120,000 households. These plants will also prevent the release of about 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere had traditional fuels been used. Dow Chemical has demonstrated its commitment and leadership in energy efficiency. Over the last 14 years, Dow efforts to save energy globally have resulted in the saving of more than 1,600 trillion BTU's of energy and prevented the release of about 86 million metric tons of carbon dioxide that would have been released without the company's efforts to save power. __
