Generating bright ideas

Rising from the soil in California's Central Valley, a new commodity has sprouted, transforming the landscape: parallel rows of solar thermal collectors that are unlike anything else in the world.

These solar collectors, called External Compound Parabolic Concentrators, or XCPCs, generate thermal energy by gathering and concentrating sunlight onto specially made collector tubes.

What makes the XCPCs unique? Their stationary design offers a big cost advantage over solar collectors that require tracking mechanisms to follow the sun. They also can capture thermal energy even on hazy or foggy days.

The new technology — developed by UC Merced professor Roland Winston, director of UC's Advanced Solar Technologies Institute (UC Solar) — has drawn commercial interest both in California and abroad for its ability to reduce carbon emissions and provide a cost-effective strategy for heating and cooling buildings.

That's just one of the bright ideas to emerge from UC Solar. With funds from UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives, the institute brings together UC's collective expertise in the quest to make solar power the cheapest, cleanest source of energy for California and the world. Not surprisingly, that lofty goal has garnered the backing and support of industry sponsors, public utilities, government agencies and entrepreneurs.

Read the full story in the press release.

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