Our Heliostat System
Practical Solar heliostat systems are an efficient and cost-effective way to heat and cool buildings in any climate. Practical Solar’s heliostats were designed, and brutally life-tested to run unattended for decades, anywhere on earth. The heliostats focus concentrated sunlight onto a small thermal receiver, where propylene glycol antifreeze circulates and is heat-exchanged with water thermal storage. Cooling can be provided with off-the-shelf absorption chillers. Practical Solar’s 20 kilowatt proof-of-concept installation uses 20 heliostats, a sophisticated thermal receiver and integrated software, to heat a house near Boston, Massachusetts.
With our heliostat technology we can provide temperatures far exceeding that of our present hot water application. We can (and have) produced temperatures exceeding that of the billion dollar “heliostat power towers”. So, if you need higher temperatures for any application, we can supply the raw power for it.
Our Heliostat Systems are Truly Practical
About one-third of all fossil fuel burning could be replaced with the widespread use of small heliostat arrays. Practical Solar’s small-scale heliostats are far more reliable and cost-effective per kilowatt than giant “power tower” heliostat arrays that use exotic thermal storage. Despite billions of dollars in investment, these massive heliostat systems have failed because they are not cost competitive. Our heliostat systems produce hot water for less money than fossil fuels or electricity, and with a zero-carbon footprint.
Harnessing the power of the sun
Used by NASA
NASA chose Practical Solar heliostats to test the photovoltaic panels used on the revolutionary Parker Solar Probe, which has now flown closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before. NASA used 200 Practical Solar heliostats to create the solar intensity the panels would experience orbiting the Sun. NASA could have chosen any of the many private/public financed companies who have spent billions of dollars, or even Sandia National Lab’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility, totally financed by the US Government. But they chose Practical Solar’s heliostat technology.
Seeking new projects
Collaborators Always Welcome
We offer inexpensive manufacturing licenses for our heliostat system with dedicated support anywhere worldwide. Today, there is no need to hire your own team of mechanical, electrical and software engineers to design your own heliostat and control system. Our promise; a complete solution from initial discussions to deployment of a reliable heliostat system. Practical Solar is the only company that can make such a claim.
We invite interested parties to tour our prototype installation near Boston. This installation combines our highly developed heliostat technology with inexpensive thermal storage and modern control systems.
“Europe’s coming winter peril” Economist Magazine, July 16, 2022
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 16 2022. At first, it looked like it would be a quick war, toppling the government in Kiev within weeks, and erasing Ukraine as an independent country. But Ukraine has not fallen and the war could drag on into the winter of 2023 and beyond. Recently, Russia has begun reducing the flow of natural gas to Western Europe, and is threating to completely cut off the supply.
With concerted effort, Practical Solar heliostat systems could replace over half of the building heat supplied by Russian natural gas within eighteen to twenty-four months.