The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will invest up to $2.9 million in a $5.8 million project by Victorian company RayGen.
RayGen uses low-cost mirrors to track and reflect the sun as a concentrated light beam onto an ultra-efficient solar PV receiver at the top of a central tower. The Melbourne-based company says it is the first to combine high efficiency solar cells with low-cost heliostat collector systems.
The technology development has also benefitted from an ongoing partnership with the University of New South Wales: in December 2014 the collaboration set a new world record in solar energy efficiency, achieving an electricity conversion rate of over 40%
RayGen's receiver utilises solar modules that employ 'multi-junction' Gallium-Arsenide technology and are more efficient than normal photovoltaic (PV) panels. The company says that compared to typical photovoltaic technology, its PV Ultra system requires just 1/1000th of the photovoltaic material and half of the solar collector area to produce the same power.
The company has successfully tested its technology in two 200 kilowatt pilot plants - one in Newbridge, Victoria, and one in China. Backed by the ARENA funding the company will now develop a utility-scale solar system, and scale up its operations with a new manufacturing line in Blackburn, Victoria.
The project is planned for completion by December 2016.
Meanwhile RayGen's venture in China's rapidly expanding solar power market continues. In March 2015 it signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned China Three Gorges for a minimum of 500 megawatt capacity, which will be built in several stages, with the first 1MW to be completed in 2016.
According to the company, the deal could potentially be worth around $1 billion in sales.