First Heliostat Placed on a Pylon
Last week at the Ivanpah SEGS, the first few heliostats were placed onto steel pylons in the Unit 1 solar field. Each heliostat was assembled in the Heliostat Assembly Building and then placed onto a specialized cart. The cart was driven to the solar field and a crane lifted the heliostat and carefully placed it onto a pylon. Construction workers manually made minor adjustments to ensure the heliostat was in its proper position, and then placed the heliostat into the horizontal “safe mode” position.
In the next few months, the heliostat’s controls will be connected to BrightSource’s proprietary software system operating within the control room. The mirrors will precisely track the sun and reflect it towards the tower’s solar receiver. Eventually, the team expects to be installing hundreds of heliostats in the field each day until all 173,500 heliostats are in place!
Heliostats transported from the Heliostat Assembly Building to the Unit 1 solar field
A crane carefully lifts a heliostat into place on a pylon
Workers at the ISEGS secure a heliostat onto a pylon
Workers position a heliostat into horizontal ‘safe mode’ position
The first heliostats installed at the ISEGS Unit 1 solar field