A new tower concentrating solar research, development and commercialisation facility is nearing completion in a northern industrial suburb of Adelaide. It has been fully designed and delivered by Heliostat SA, in collaboration with UniSA and the automotive sector.
The heliostat field consists of 25 single facet focused heliostats, each with a reflective area of 7.22 m2 (CSIRO format heliostat / control system). The tower stands at 15m and houses a 35 kW electrical “Supercell” CPV receiver (See Raygen.com), with cooling loop take off temperatures suitable for thermal desalination.
Thermal receivers for industrial, resource sector and agricultural heat applications will also be tested at the facility.
I would like to thank the Precision Components Australia, Excellerate Australia (Automotive 2020 CRC) and UniSA for their funding of this facility. Cost competitive CSP solutions for industry, mining and agriculture provide an important opportunity as gas prices rise and emissions reduction targets are addressed.
