InsideTech

Holy Cow!
Some of these comments are just plain ole' silly.
This device was not meant to set wood on fire. It's meant to turn water into steam, in a flash! Steam drives turbine where it loses some of its energy and can be condensed into water by passing it through a copper coil. The turbine needs to be synchronized with city (grid) power and be able to last a long time !? I got news for you, genius. Almost all electricity is produced by boiling water, turning it to steam and driving one of those fancy, long lasting turbines. Yes, even this high tech thing called nuclear just boils water and drives a long lasting turbine. The "synchronizing" electronics are already readily available and are cheap.
You guys are silly (too many video games,me thinks.) No wonder the Europeans are so far ahead of us in terms of renewable energy production. Good thing MIT is around. They might have started with a $200 Fresnel lens but, hey, why not get creative.
Oh, and Archimedes would be proud.

Well, personally, despite the other "know it alls" that replied...I thinks it's fabulous that young minds are not only working on a solution, but are attempting to harness a free, reusable, resource available to practically all of mankind that reduces the need for oil consumption. It may not be perfect yet...it may have it's kinks to work out...but the solar projects in Seville and the other huge project in either Australia or Africa (I am sorry, I can't remember now...it is done with many mirrors beneath a huge glass canopy that allows super heated air to collect in a tower)...ARE working but they are on a huge and expensive scale. These young people are attempting to make it accessible to communities...I truly think it's marvelous and bears watching... GOOD GOING MIT STUDENTS!! I am very proud of the work you are trying to do!!

quaz84a asks about "Archimedes". I think you should use that in the product name, makes sense.

Question: Do you anticipate the applications for this technology to include pool heating and household water heating in addition to generating electricity?

In the Boston area, I've been thinking about researching solar for heating water for showers, etc. or for heating my pool. But, my understanding is that the ballpark cost is at $6K and up for a simple system (not sure if that includes government subsidies).

The promise of this technology is incredible. I'm glad I waited to dig into solar and will keep my eyes on how this all turns out.

and fuckin lazzy haha i am

This all sounds great and exciding for those who do not think past the picture with mirror-clad dish and burning wooden pole.
Yes, concentrated solar power has a great potential, zero fuel costs, zero emissions (aside from environmental effect of producing the actual hardware for power plant).
By the way, the commercial power stations are already working; 11MW PS10 in Spain, near Seville. And Solucar, the company that operates it, plans to build more stations for a total capacity of 300 MW which should cover the needs of majority of residents of Seville.
As is with the case of the mirror dish constructed by MIT students’ couple of "minor" additions required to turn the dish into viable power generator:
1. Because of the Earth's rotation to maintain the focus dish has to track the sun during the day, therefore dish has to be actuated in both the azimuth and elevation. That by itself will add costs greater then the dish. And keep in mind that the tracking system has to be able to adjust to seasonal changes. Also, all of the mechanisms and electronics associated with the dish have to be able to withstand the sun, the rain, the wind and everything that wind can bring, which means that everything has to be housed in water-proof and corrosion-resistant enclosures.
2. Article has no mention of any device placed in the focal point of the dish, that suppose to actually convert the power of concentrated solar rays into usable form of energy, such as electricity. If we are talking about a conventional steam turbine then we also will need a collector made of something like black oxidized stainless steel piping connected to steam generator. So as to get the maximum production from the whole thing we will also need the cooling system where some of the energy from the steam can be released to turn the steam back to water so it can be reused.
3. The power head will have to an industrial generator which can work every day for years.
4. The output, if to be used with existing building wiring and connected to the city power grid, will have to be phase synchronized with the city’s power, which will require either smart inverter, or some other system that will synch the power head with the city’s power.

Should I go on? Those are only few things that are known to someone NOT having great knowledge about power generating industry, albeit an engineer by trade.

Mister Jason Mick, the author of the article might wish to do some homework before making statements about ”revolutionizing the power industry” with the 12' mirror dish.

Is there any video of this?

Ever Hear of a Fresnel lens? One of those less than four feet square can flash melt steel and you can buy one that size for less than $200.