Precision Components finds new life after car making with heliostats for global solar market
Heliostat South Australia is making the precision mirrors for SolarReserve's 150MW Aurora solar thermal plant at Port Augusta.
Image courtesy SolarReserve and Heliostat South Australia
Based in the Adelaide western suburb of Beverly, Precision Components, previously a tier one supplier to Ford, Toyota and GM Holden, has adapted to life after the end of Australian car making by becoming a founder shareholder of Heliostat South Australia that’s having a global impact in renewable energy industry.
Heliostat SA is part of the Fusion Renewables Group with its investment arm Fusion Capital and the University of South Australia, May Brothers and Enersalt.
HeliostatSA was born out of Precision’s plan to move from car-component hot stamping and metal pressing to advanced manufacturing and engineering of high-value-add specialised products in emerging markets with like-minded companies and universities.
Helped by $1 million from the Australian government under its automotive diversification programme, the company’s vision was realised by taking on the manufacture of a heliostat designed by the CSIRO. Heliostats are computer-controlled mirrors used especially with solar thermal tower technology. This set up HeliostatSA to supply mirrors to SolarReserve’s 150MW Aurora solar thermal plant ready in 2020. But it also has been involved in ventures overseas, including India, Cyprus and Japan.
Each HeliostatSA mirror is 3.21 x 2.22 metres with optical efficiency believed to be the most accurate in the world. This reduces the mirrors required, reducing the overall cost of CSP while still delivering the same 24-hour electricity.
The heliostats and their high-tech components are made using laser mapping and steel cutting technology. The mirrors are slightly parabolic and components need to be cut and measured exactly.
The CSIRO heliostat design is small with advanced controls to get high performance from an inexpensive design. The computer control (heliostat) rotates minors accurately to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a receiver on top of a solar thermal tower.
In 2015, HeliostatSA partnered with Indian company Global Wind Power Limited to develop a portfolio of projects valued at $2.5 billion in India and Australia. It began with 150MW of concentrated solar powered electricity in Rajashtan. India has commited to reaching investment of $US100 billion of renewable energy by 2019.
After a similar program with the Cyprus Institute, Japan’s Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems called on the CSIRO’s solar thermal technology, made by Heliostat, for a field of 150 heliostats in Yokohama to run research projects.
