MIT building low-cost solar concentrator

A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students is building a prototype power concentrator with a goal of revolutionizing the solar energy field.

Led by MIT mechanical engineering graduate student Spencer Ahrens, the team is assembling a 12-foot-square mirrored dish capable of concentrating sunlight by a factor of 1,000. But it's being built from simple, inexpensive industrial materials selected for price, durability and ease of assembly rather than for optimum performance.

Ahrens said the goal is to make a dish that, in mass production, can be competitive in cost with other energy sources and produce heat for space heating and electric power at the same time.

"The technical challenge here is to make it simple," Ahrens said. "We're using all commodity materials that are all in high production."

Ahrens said the dish, in the Sun Belt, could make about 10,000 peak watts of heat and 3,500 peak watts of electricity.

"It's designed for long life - we hope they will last more than 30 years with good maintenance - and for indigenous manufacturing in the developing world with minimal tooling," he said.

Related News

European gas prices fall to pre-Ukraine war level

BERLIN - European gas prices have dipped to a level last seen before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February, after warmer weather across the continent eased concerns over shortages.

The month-ahead European gas future contract dropped as low as €76.78 per megawatt hour on Wednesday, the lowest level in 10 months, before closing higher at €83.70, according to Refinitiv, a data company.

The invasion roiled global energy markets and forced European countries, including industrial powerhouse Germany, to look for alternative suppliers to those funding the Kremlin. Europe had continued to rely on Russian gas even after its 2014 annexation of…

READ MORE
starting-texas-schools-after-labor-day

Starting Texas Schools After Labor Day: Power Grid and Cost Benefits?

READ MORE

wildfires in los angeles

94,000 lose electricity in LA area after fire at station

READ MORE

Kevin O'Neill

Jolting the brain's circuits with electricity is moving from radical to almost mainstream therapy

READ MORE

Hydrogen 7

BMW boss says hydrogen, not electric, will be "hippest thing" to drive

READ MORE