The Big Dish is a 500 m² concentrating solar collector that accurately focuses direct beam radiation from the sun to concentrations in excess of 2000 times.   Each dish consists of 380 individually curved mirror panels tiled onto a highly accurate paraboloidal steel support frame, which is held rigidly in shape by a lightweight steel space frame structure.

The dishes track the path of the sun during the day, and sunlight is reflected from the mirrors to a receiver located at the focal point.   Depending on the application, the receiver may be a boiler, a chemical reactor, a turbine, or any other suitable energy conversion device.  

The dish and base frame is driven on wheels around a circular ring beam foundation for azimuth tracking, and the dish is elevated via a rack and pinion system for altitude tracking.  High accuracy solar tracking is achieved by the actuation and control system.

Construction of large solar fields using the Big Dish technology is carried out using Wizard Power’s Factory-in-the-Field deployment strategy.

Wizard Power has patents pending covering the Big Dish design and manufacturing technique.

See the Factory in the Field page for information about Wizard Power's unique manufacturing and deployment approach for dishes.