PETAL: a research pathway to fossil-competitive solar electricity

We outline the economic arguments in favor of using large parabolic dishes for CPV. We then discuss methods that have been employed to quantify the optical and tracking properties of PETAL, a 400 m/sup 2/ parabolic dish facility located at Sede Boqer in the Negev desert. Attention is drawn to the problem of light homogenization at the focal plane, and a method is discussed for achieving adequate homogeneity for CPV purposes.