The Solar Sunflower: Tell this does not look cool and that you would not want one...

[e-FTW]

Solar Sunflower: Tell me this doesn't look cool and that you would not want one...

Seriously, these guys have the right idea.

The tl;dr version: "The end result is a device that produces about 12kW of electricity, along with 21kW of thermal energy (with water temperatures up to 90°C). Neither Airlight or IBM would reveal the exact pricing of a single Sunflower, but the fully installed cost will likely be in the tens-of-thousands-of-pounds range—and that's just the first caveat of many."

What would you do with 12kw, and say a Powerwall? Oh, and a bunch of hot water.

I would stick those next to Superchargers. It's just good marketing. It does not matter if the power numbers add up. And you provide hot water to nearby businesses, homes or industry.

Source: The Solar Sunflower: Harnessing the power of 5,000 suns | Ars Technica

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

That's pretty neat. They're a concentrating version of combined solar thermal/PV. I think a forum member had a thread showing the install of those (not the sunflower) on his house. Using the waste heat for hot water is a great idea in terms of overall system efficiency, even if the solar cells are at ~40% efficiency.

 

[e-FTW]

Yep. And in this instance, with silicon micro channels behind the gallium PV cells for heath capture, they got an overall system efficiency of 80%. 80!