Solar Energy Kick Start

World's largest (at that time) solar energy project at Carrisa Plains, California, as shown on the cover of Scientific American magazine in April, 1987.

The original photograph that Scientific American borrowed to create their cover.

The Carrisa Plains solar power production facility trackers covered the better part of a square mile. Here they're shown in their stowed position, for minimum wind load and interesting photographic opportunities.

John's software controlled each of the 880 trackers independently to face the sun accurately. The mirrors folded extra sunlight onto the photovoltaic panels to increase power output.

These guys provide a great information resource for getting started with solar energy. They might hype stuff a bit too much, but the solid information you can learn from their package can give you a big head start. Recommended!

Popular Science magazine also covered the Carrisa Plains project in a very supportive feature article.

Here's another good resource for getting started on your own smaller scale solar project. If you want to lower your electricity bills, this is a good place to start. Check it out!

John's boss (now his father-in-law) met John at 4am one morning to arrive at the Sandia Labs site before sunrise. This picture was worth the effort! Our heliostats were used as part of Sandia Lab's solar research and development efforts.

The solar research and development site at Sandia Labs was a fun place to do research. John created similar control software for heliostats at many other sites, including the Weizmann Institue, Tennessee Valley Authority, in Texas and California, and for a site in Qatar.

The central receiver tower at Sandia Labs as viewed from a different angle.

On a smaller scale, it's easy and very cost effective to heat your own water for your home. This company offers great information to guide you through the process. As shown below, we heated water for a different purpose and on a larger scale.

Thirty heliostats created steam to thin underground oil in an EOR (Enchanced Oil Recovery) experimental site near Taft, California.

The central receiver used solar energy to create steam to be pumped underground to warm and thin the oil for easier recovery.

In this photo, each of the 30 EOR heliostats is aimed to focus the sun at a standby position in the open air. The atmospheric conditions allowed the beams to be more visible than usual the day this photo was taken.

One more good resource for solar energy information to give you a big head start at reducing your electric or heating bills.