Members

 

These organizations are key members of the Heliostat Consortium. Through formal agreements with HelioCon, they work closely with the leadership team, providing guidance and critical expertise.

 

National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)

Lead: Guangdong Zhu, Guangdong.Zhu@nrel.gov

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provide scientific, engineering, and analytical expertise to advance innovation in concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. These technologies capture sunlight to produce heat that drives today's conventional thermoelectric generation systems or future advanced generation systems. NREL plays a critical role in CSP research by coupling a wide range of capabilities, supported by facilities and tools, with an expert staff having almost 200 person-years of CSP-related experience. 

 

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)

Lead: Margaret Gordon, megord@sandia.gov

The Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) program performs research and development on next generation CSP at Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The CSP team works with Sandia researchers in New Mexico and California to develop CSP technologies for electricity, process heat, hydrogen and fuels. The CSP team also partners with other National Labs, universities and with industry to develop CSP from concept to large-scale testing at the NSTTF, the only large-scale high-flux testing facility in North America. 

 
 

Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute (ASTRI)

Lead: Dominic Zaal, dominic.zaal@csiro.au

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Lead: Mike Collins, mike.collins@csiro.au

Read more 

CSIRO operates two solar towers for the testing of high concentration receivers, as part of the National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle, Australia. Drawing on experience and knowhow in heliostat operation, simulation, and metrology, researchers are contributing to software tools and guidelines for heliostat developers and users.

Australian National University

Lead: Joseph Coventry, joe.coventry@anu.edu.au
Co-Lead: John Pye, john.pye@anu.edu.au 

Read more 

This year ANU is contributing to HelioCon in several ways ANU is developing tools to characterise heliostat optical accuracy in situ using camera-based methods, as well as contributing to the improvement of optical simulation tools jointly with NRE. ANU is also developing robust methods of measuring soiling levels on mirror surfaces using camera-based methods, and finally examining the impact of how different types of mirror panel shape imperfections impact performance of a field through full-field optical assessments.

University of Adelaide

Lead: Bo Yang, bo.yang01@adelaide.edu.au
Co-Lead: Maziar Arjomandi, maziar.arjomandi@adelaide.edu.au 

Read more 

The University of Adelaide generate, analyse and characterize atmospheric turbulence and wind load data in wind tunnel and field experiments. The aim of this work is to develop site wind characterization and design load guidelines to reduce cost and increase performance of heliostat fields.

Queensland University of Technology

Lead: Michael Cholette, michael.cholette@qut.edu.au
 Co-Lead: Giovanni Picotti, g.picotti@qut.edu.au

Read more 

QUT is leading the Soiling Subtask in the Heliostat Consortium — this is comprised of a group of researchers from the US and Australia focused on understanding and mitigating soiling losses for CSP plants. The Subtask’s work includes developing methods for characterizing site soiling losses early in the plant design, developing new measurement techniques, improving the accuracy of reflectance loss prediction models, and optimizing mitigation strategies (e.g. cleaning) to balance costs and productivity improvements.

 

 
 
 
 

Requests for Proposals Round 2 Awardees

 

DKA Design

Project Title: Soiling on Heliostats Estimated by Shaded and Unshaded Scatterometry
Principal Investigator:  Derek Schulte derek@dkadesign.biz

Rice University

Project Title: A Brighter Future: Education and Outreach for Small-Scale Concentrating Solar on Urban Brownfields
Principal Investigator: Laura Schaefer laura.schaefer@rice.edu  

Northeastern University

Project Title: Advancing University Level Education on Heliostat Design and Operation
Principal Investigator: Hameed Metghalchi metghalchi@coe.neu.edu

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Project Title: PROMETHEUS: Predictive and Optimized Control of Heliostats for Future Solar Fields 
Principal Investigator: Michael Wagner mjwagner2@wisc.edu   

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Project Title: Precision Angle Measurement System for Enhanced Heliostat Performance and Cost Reduction
Principal Investigator:  Heejin Choheejin.cho@unlv.edu

Mark Ayres Engineering

Project Title:  Solar Field Control Software
Principal Investigator:  Mark Ayres marcuselectricus@gmail.com

 

Requests for Proposals Round 1  Awardees

 

Solar Dynamics - SunRing

Project Title: SunRing Advanced Manufacturing and Field Deployment
Principal Investigator:  Kyle Kattke kyle.kattke@solardynllc.com

University of New Mexico

Project Title: HELIOCOMM: A Resilient Wireless Heliostats Communication System
Principal Investigator: Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou eirini@unm.edu  

Northeastern University

Project Title: An Educational Program on Concentrated Solar Power and Heliostats for Power Generation and Industrial Processes
Principal Investigator: Hameed Metghalchi metghalchi@coe.neu.edu

Solar Dynamics - Wireless

Project Title: Demonstration of a Heliostat Solar Field Wireless Control System 
Principal Investigator: Rick Sommers rick.sommers@solardynllc.com   

University of Arizona

Project Title: Self Focusing Heliostats with Closed Loop Tracking
Principal Investigator:  J. Roger Angel angelj@email.arizona.edu

Tietronix

Project Title:  Digital Twin and Industry 2.0 in Support of Heliostat Technology Advancement
Principal Investigator:  Michel Izygon michel.izygon@tietronix.com