CSIRO's heliostat systems to be deployed in China

CSIRO is bringing its solar heliostat technology to China, having yesterday signed an agreement with Beijing-based company Thermal Focus. The technology offers a low-cost method of storing thermal energy, giving concentrating solar thermal (CST) technology great potential for medium- to large-scale solar power.

Solar thermal technology uses a field of computer-controlled mirrors (heliostats) that reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a receiver on top of a tower. The concentrated sunlight may then be used to heat and store hot molten salt, which can generate superheated steam to drive a turbine for electricity generation.

CSIRO’s design features smaller-than-conventional heliostats and uses an advanced control system to get high performance. Its software optimises the configuration of the heliostats prior to construction and manages each heliostat to ensure the optimum amount of reflected heat is focused on the receiver, maximising the amount of power that can be produced.

The agreement with Thermal Focus will see the Chinese company manufacture, market, sell and install CSIRO’s heliostats, field control software and design software, with a shared revenue stream back to Australia to fund further climate mitigation research. It follows China’s announcement to produce 1.4 GW of concentrating solar thermal (CST) electricity by 2018 and 5 GW by 2020, doubling the number of the world’s installed CST plants.

“CSIRO’s solar thermal technology combined with our manufacturing capability will help expedite and deliver solar thermal as an important source of renewable energy in China,” said Thermal Focus representative Wei Zhu.

“This partnership will help us commercialise this emerging technology on a larger scale.”

Image ©John Marmaras