General Information

What is a solar dish, and how does it work?

A solar dish-engine collects sunlight to produce electricity. The solar concentrator (or dish) tracks the sun, reflecting sunlight into the power conversion unit (PCU). In the PCU, the concentrated sunlight is absorbed on a thermal receiver where it is converted into heat to power a Stirling engine. The engine drives a generator producing electricity.

What is an Integrated High-Concentration Photovoltaic System?

Plastic Fresnel lenses are used to concentrate the sun up to 250 times on a n front of PV cells (Photovoltaic material) it. With this high concentration on the PV cells the efficiency and the power the cells produce is increased compared to the system a home owner could put on their roof. Through concentration, the required cell area needed for a given amount of electricity is reduced by an amount approximating its concentration ratio (250 times). In effect, a low cost plastic concentrator lens is being substituted for relatively expensive silicon.

Why is this important to the country?

Large-scale deployment of these systems will help us address the current and future electrical power supply needs. The Southwest U.S., Nevada in particular, is an excellent location for the development and deployment of Solar Dish power generation systems because of the instensity of sunlight available.

How much power does it produce?

Solar power generation units produce peak power from 9 to 25 kWh each. On a good summer day in Las Vegas, a 25 kW Solar Dish will produce about 230 kW hours of electrical energy--enough to power more than 20 homes.