John Lasich began work on solar concentrator photovoltaic (PV) fundamentals in 1975. Working from home, he investigated a variety of solar concentration methods as well as PV applications and founded Solar Systems in 1991 to develop his discoveries.

In 1997 Solar Systems began work at White Cliffs in north-west New South Wales, Australia. This site had 14 small concentrator dishes owned by the local electricity supplier and generated electricity using a solar-thermal cycle. It was installed as part of a research effort by Australian National University. The dishes were converted to incorporate Solar Systems' technology, providing valuable data on the long-term field performance of our PV modules.

The first 500x concentrator dish, the CS500, was constructed at our test facility in Fosterville, central Victoria, Australia. This site has been used to optimise the design of the CS500 and draws on the considerable experience gained at White Cliffs.

Solar Systems has continued development, particularly in improving algorithms for control and real-time data acquisition during operation. More recently, we have integrated new generation multi-junction III-V photovoltaic cells into our modules. These have increased the output by more than 50% compared to the previous silicon-based cells.

Current research and development efforts are targeting greater output by using high efficiency PV cells, better mirror technology and reducing parasitic losses. In parallel, several small projects are aimed at improving the manufacturing processes and improving operational reliability.

Solar Systems now has ten patents and patents pending registered around the world. These cover our innovations in

• optics
• controls
• cooling
• hydrogen production
• PV cell design

Solar Systems has invested over A$50M in research and development of these concepts, and continues a strong focus on continual improvement and further innovation.