Search  
DOE Pulse

New SunCatcher power system unveiled at National Solar Thermal Test Facility

Stirling SunCatcherTM

Stirling SunCatcherTM

Four newly designed solar power collection dishes called SunCatchers were unveiled recently at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. The new dishes are the next-generation model of the original SunCatcher system, which uses precision mirrors attached to a parabolic dish to concentrate the sun’s energy onto a high‐efficiency Stirling engine. Over the past five years, Stirling Energy Systems has collaborated with DOE's Sandia National Laboratories to perfect the SunCatcher design for high-volume production, ease of maintenance, and cost reduction. SES and sister company Tessera Solar expect to use the dishes in commercial-scale deployments by 2010.

[Julie Hall, 505.284.7761,
jchall@sandia.gov]