Enertopia Provides Technology Update
9:02 am ET January 12, 2023 (Newsfile) Print
Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 12, 2023) - Enertopia Corporation (OTCQB: ENRT) (CSE: ENRT)("Enertopia'' or the "Company") a company focused on building shareholder value through a combination of our Nevada lithium claims, intellectual property, & patents in the green technology space, is very pleased to provide the following technology update.
Energy Management System
Our most advanced technology, and the one that will be available for sale first, is our non-provisional patent USPTO # 17,979,696 filed on November 2, 2022. We are currently in the permitting & insurance paperwork phase and are expecting initial sales to begin by the end of February of this year. Our plan for sales & the recurring revenue of a monthly monitoring fee subscription service will be outlined in future press releases. Enertopia owns 100% of the technology and a 51% interest in the selling Joint Venture called CapNtrack.
We are also in the final prototype build out phase for non-provisional patents Solar Energy Collector System USPTO # 17/751,300 filed on May 23, 2022. Heat Recovery System USPTO # 17/751/305 filed on May 23, 2022 and Water Producing System For A Liquid Transfer Mat USPTO # 17/888,320 filed on August 15, 2022. We expect all three of these systems to be up and running by the end of February 2023.
Additionally, our patent attorneys have informed us that our two newest provisional patent applications have been submitted to the USPTO Heat Recovery and Dissipation System USPTO # 63/387/631 filed on December 15, 2022 and Expandable Thermal Energy Storage System USPTO # 63/478/038 filed on December 30, 2022. We will have until late December 2023 to file the non-provisional patent applications with the USPTO on the above two provisional patents.
Technology Potential
This technology could allow us to create a closed system loop where only solar energy is used to both start and complete the lithium solutions processing. This will be done by taking the excess heat from solar panels, and using it to heat a lithium brine solution to the desired ambient temperature of 122F to 140F for the 3 - 4 hour processing cycle. Any excess process water will be kept in insulated storage tanks for use as new batches of lithium solution begin processing. Additionally, excess PV production will be stored by batteries and controlled by a BMS (Battery Management System).
As Enertopia moves forward towards our goal of creating a low carbon pilot plant, we realized that there were certain inefficiencies associated with PV panels which could be used to our advantage while processing the lithium claystone found on our claim. In particular, we found that the PV panels are subject to significant heat stress as temperatures rise. Manufacturers generally rate PV panels at a temperature of 77F, while field work in the desert of Nevada showed temperatures on the back of the panels regularly exceeding 140F, damaging the PV panels (resulting in a shorter life span) while also losing significant output. Our patent patent application directly addresses this issue.
Our patent filings are the result of our continued diligence in striving for a more economically and environmentally friendly way to extract energy from waste heat and we believe these systems will have useful applications in residential, commercial and mining applications.
The effect of temperature on solar panel efficiency
As with most electronic equipment, excess heat can be a killer and solar panel arrays are no different. The performance of solar panels declines as they heat up, and decreased power output is the result. The industry manufacturers rate their products' susceptibility to increasing panel temperature, where It is standard practice to test solar panels for power output at 77 °F. So, if a panel is rated to have a temperature coefficient of -0.50% per 1.8°F above 77 °F, that panel's output power will decrease by half of a percent for every 1.8F degrees the temperature rises above (77 °F). With it being common for PV panels to reach temperatures of 137F, a solar array being 60F into the heat stress zone would equal a decrease of 15% or more on the solar array output.
Other aspects of heat stress include heat fatigue causing permanent PV cell failure, string loss downtime and 100% production loss.
With over 1.2TW (Terawatts) of worldwide PV installed capacity, and another 100 Gigawatts of PV capacity coming online per year, the inefficiencies that are currently experienced due to overheating are quite extensive, and expensive. As the world transitions to a low carbon-based energy system we feel that there is a large untapped market for the Enertopia technology beyond just the processing of lithium claystone. Our technology has been designed so that it can be retrofitted onto existing PV panels, and we are confident that our upcoming trial run at the 3 megawatt solar array will validate the results we have seen in our own field experiments.
Expected benefits of using the Enertopia Technology:
A Potential increase of >10% or greater on an annual basis in electrical PV system output
Removal of panel heat stress, which is a major contributor to below nameplate output and panel failure.
Substantial Increase in PV System lifetime, thus improving the ROI for all users from home use to utility scale solar projects.
Energy Management System (EMS) can Capture and Track current, voltage, temperature, pressure, or flow data from any AC or DC system VDC and VAC, temp, on or off grid.
"Our technical team continues to evaluate synergistic opportunities and we expect two more patent pending filings by the end of calendar year 2023," stated CEO Robert McAllister. "Enertopia has made great strides forward in the last year by continuing to develop and expand our Green Technology has resulted in several opportunities that we continue to investigate in improving mining and society at the same time."
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