Have been collecting broken mirrors for a few years and will be lining the old 12' sat. dish with them. Hoping to get many hundreds of degrees at the focal point. Planning on a closed loop system to heat water/home. Tracking system is about $300 but it should pay for itself in one season.
Interesting. I like this: "12 kilowatts of electrical power and 20 kilowatts of heat on a sunny day — enough to power several average homes" Not in this country! During a Vegas summer I average 61 kw/day with a high of 73 kw/day And that's keeping the thermo at 80 in a well insulated 10 y/o house. I like the concept, though the Concentrator can be a bit of nuisance by giving off a glaring light. Not good for the suburbs.
Then there is this version. That is a sterling engine mounted at the focal point. These are rated for about 7.5 kwt each. Claim to be maintance free.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you are using (say)72 kilowatt hours per day, that is (averaged over 12 hours) you are drawing about 6 killowatts at near peak. So, yes, between 12kw of power and 20kw of heat (that might also be used to make electrical power) several homes might be supplied. How they intend to store power for dark hours remains a mystery to me. And those things aren't nearly as photogenic as a sunflower garden.
Not to criticize others' use of power, but only to offer an example for comparison; I live very comfortably in the tropics with no other electrical power source than a 1.7kW solar panel array - average about 5kWh of power use per day. That is two person home, with the power providing lighting, refrigeration, clothes-washing and water pressure. We do not have, or need air conditioning - the house design and orientation provides the cooling. We use propane for cooking, occasional clothes-drying, and heating water; about 10 pounds monthly; that is another 5kWh per pound, or 50 kWh of direct heat yield - say 2kWh per day. We have three computers on pretty much full-time and a 4cf freezer - so not a primitive set-up. One of these gizmos would certainly be handy if we were not already set up!
