Capstone Turbine Corp., a manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, has demonstrated a product converting sunlight to electricity with a solar receiver driving a microturbine. The technology is being jointly developed with HelioFocus.

The demonstration was conducted with a Capstone C65 microturbine by HelioFocus and Capstone on a fixed optical tower using heliostats at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel, HelioFocus Ltd. engages in the development of modular concentrated solar power systems.

The traditional Capstone microturbine engine uses gaseous or liquid fuels to heat combustion air. The HelioFocus Solar Concentrator focuses enough sunlight energy to provide heat to drive the microturbine.

This configuration offers higher solar conversion efficiencies over traditional solar photovoltaic systems, according to the companies. In addition, the increased power density of this system is expected to reduce the amount of land required by a traditional solar photovoltaic system.

The traditional Capstone microturbine engine uses gaseous or liquid fuels to heat combustion air. The HelioFocus Solar Concentrator focuses enough sunlight energy to provide heat to drive the microturbine. This renewable solution offers higher solar conversion efficiencies over traditional solar photovoltaic systems. In addition the increased power density of this system should reduce the amount of land required by a traditional solar photovoltaic system.

"The concept scales to all Capstone microturbine products, from the C30 through the C1000 Series, generating 30kW to 5MW of electricity," said Mark Gilbreth, Capstone Executive Vice President and CTO. "The commercial Concentrated Solar Power product should compare favorably in cost to photovoltaic."

"The value proposition driving this joint product development effort between HelioFocus and Capstone is that it gives solar projects the capability to generate energy more efficiently during the day and to continue to provide energy at night," said Darren Jamison, Capstone President and CEO. "Efficiency is extremely important in solar power systems as a means to reduce size and space, and ultimately drive down installation costs," added Jamison.

Benefits: During the day power is provided by the sun generating heat for the turbine. At night the turbines can run on natural gas or other fuels providing an ideal solution for continuous generation of power from a single installed investment, whilst halving the need for fossil fuels.