Skyven Technologies, previous 76West winner, installs product on farm in Capital Region

VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. — Skyven Technologies, a grand-prize winner in the 76West clean-energy competition, has installed its intelligent mirror array at Copses Farms in Valley Falls, near Albany, its first installation in New York.

The product is described as “one of the world’s first solar solutions for industrial steam,” the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) said in a Tuesday news release.

This is only the second installation in the country of Skyven’s new technology, which was manufactured in the Southern Tier and will assist in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Skyven, which is headquartered near Dallas, was named the $1 million grand-prize winner of the 76West clean-energy competition in 2017.

The company’s intelligent mirror array is a “renewable” product for industrial steam that can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from industrial boilers. It uses specialized collectors — similar to solar panels — that capture heat from the sun to raise the temperature of water. The heat is then injected into industrial boilers to reduce fuel consumption, thereby reducing emissions.

Tuesday’s announcement was made at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Copses Farms, a 2,600-acre robotic dairy farm with 720 cows in Valley Falls in Rensselaer County. Robotic farms use a higher amount of hot water to clean the equipment after each use, which is why the use of Skyven’s system is “so valuable to this type of farm,” NYSERDA said. The panels installed at Copses Farms provide enough heat to produce 50,000 gallons of hot water annually, it added.

About 76West

The 76West clean-energy competition is “one of the largest in the country that focuses on supporting and growing” clean-energy businesses and economic development.  As a condition of the award, all companies must either move to the Southern Tier or establish a direct connection with that region, such as a supply chain; job development with Southern Tier companies; or other relationships with regional entities that increase wealth creation and create jobs.

Skyven worked with Cameron Manufacturing and Design in Horseheads to manufacture the nine panels. The Radiant Store, based in Troy, installed the panels at Copses Farms, NYSERDA said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com