Solar Thermal Dish Manufacturing Putting People Back to Work

Linamar Corp. is expanding its local workforce with a new $200-million investment in the city of Guelph , Ontario,Canada.  Chief executive officer Linda Hasenfratz said the company has already begun hiring between 1,200 and 1,300 people over three years to work in its local car parts and solar thermal dish manufacturing plants. Linamar has been developing and producing Power Conversion Units (PCU’s) for Stirling Energy Systems (“SES”) for use with SES’s Sun Catcher solar dish system.

The news comes on the heels of one of the worst downturns in the company’s 44-year history. In 2008 and 2009, Linamar cut close to 5,000 jobs internationally.

About the SunCatcher Solar Thermal Dish

The SES SunCatcher is a 25-kilowatt-electric (kWe) solar dish Stirling system that automatically tracks, collects and focuses the sun’s energy into the PCU to generate grid-quality electricity. The PCU is coupled with and powered by an SES Stirling engine.

The conversion process in the PCU involves a closed-cycle, high-efficiency four–cylinder reciprocating Solar Stirling Engine utilizing an internal working fluid that is recycled through the engine. The Stirling engine operates with heat input from the sun that is focused by the SunCatcher’s dish assembly mirrors into the PCU’s solar receiver tubes which contain hydrogen gas. The PCU solar receiver is an external heat exchanger that absorbs the incoming solar thermal energy. This heats and pressurizes the internal working fluid in the heat exchanger tubing and this gas in turn powers the Stirling Engine. A generator is connected to the Stirling Engine which produces the electrical output of the SunCatcher. Waste heat from the engine is transferred to the ambient air via a radiator system similar to those used in automobiles. The gas is cooled by a radiator system and is continually recycled within the engine during the power cycle. The conversion process does not consume water, as is required by most thermal-powered generating systems.

Maricopa Solar, the first commercial-scale solar plant utilizing the SunCatcher technology, will be operated by SES sister company, Tessera Solar, and provide 1.5 MW of power to the grid with 60 SunCatcher units. Tessera Solar, the exclusive developer of utility-scale projects using the SunCatcher power system, has contracts to build more than 1,500 MW of new power projects. These projects will deploy more than 60,000 SunCatcher units in California, Texas and Arizona.

The unique SunCatcher technology was developed in the United States, and more than 90 percent of the SunCatcher components will be manufactured and assembled in North America, putting Americans back to work.

About Linamar Corp

Linamar’s operations are segmented into four product groups; Powertrain, Skyjack, Energy & Heavy Machining and Consumer Products. Each group is led by a Group President and is backed by the corporation’s capable Global Support staff. The Powertrain Group, the largest operating unit, has a Group President in each major region in which the company operates including Canada/U.S., Mexico, Europe and Asia.

“Things are a lot better than they were a year ago, that’s for sure,” Hasenfratz said during an interview at the company’s Speedvale Avenue headquarters. “Believe me, it’s a lot better to be hiring than to be downsizing.”

Last month, Linamar announced the creation of 800 new jobs in its Mexican plants. The company now employs close to 10,000 people internationally, about 5,500 of whom work in Guelph.

Hasenfratz said most of the new jobs will be permanent positions and are spread across the company’s 22 Guelph manufacturing plants.

“We have a much better level of morale and a positive outlook toward the future. We have more certainty about what’s happening and people here are feeling good about the fact that we’re winning a lot of new business,” she said.

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