Wizard Power

Wizard Power

Wizard Power Pty Ltd is an Australian company focused on solar technology research, development and commercialisation. The company is headquartered in Canberra, Australia.

Wizard Power's technology portfolio includes:

• The Big Dish solar thermal concentrator. The Big Dish is the world's largest and highest performance paraboloidal dish solar concentrator capable of generating temperatures over 1,200oC for superheating steam or powering thermochemical processes. The energy generated through these processes is used for electricity production, energy storage, thermochemistry or process heat;
• World leading, patent pending, focally accurate, solar mirror panel technology for Big Dishes and other solar concentrators; and
• A suite of unique thermal and thermochemical solar energy storage systems, also patent pending.

These technologies enable the delivery of utility-scale, zero emission thermal and electrical energy for dispatchable power applications. The Australian National University developed the first versions of these technologies over a period of more than 30 years. The current Wizard Power Big Dish ‘commercial’ design, represented by the prototype located at the ANU, is based on novel space-frame and mirror panel systems that are optimised for the cost-effective deployment of large (tens to hundreds of megawatt capacity) solar fields.

Wizard Power provides the research, development, technology support and systems integration services necessary to facilitate the development of solutions and projects using these technologies.

In addition to these technologies, Wizard Power is also developing high-temperature solar gasification solutions for the conversion of coal, biomass and other carbonaceous materials to liquid fuels, plastics and fertilisers.

Wizard Power is currently establishing a demonstration site in Whyalla, South Australia which will showcase the company's energy storage technologies. The Whyalla Solar Storage plant will be a pre-commercial demonstration of energy storage, with full integration, demonstration of start up and shut down procedures, ability to handle intermittent solar input, and deliver energy on demand. This project has been supported by the Commonwealth Government of Australia's Advance Electricity Storage Program.

The Whyalla SolarOasis will use 300 Wizard Power Big Dish solar thermal concentrators to deliver a 40MWe solar thermal power plant. It will be built 4 km north of Whyalla adjacent to the solar storage research facility. The plant is designed as a peaking power plant operating in the day and early evening to deliver electricity when it is most in demand.