"It concentrates the sunlight 500 times," said Julia Birch, the sustainability manager for Solar Systems, the Melbourne company that built the three stations. "It gets hot - hot enough to melt steel." A typical rooftop solar panel converted about 12 per cent of the sunlight received into electricity, Ms Birch said. However, the most efficient cells in the new Northern Territory stations convert 30 per cent. "That's a world record," Ms Birch said. When the sun shines the three stations can generate a total of 720 kilowatts, allowing the communities to switch off their costly diesel generators. "They save 420,000 litres of diesel a year and 1550 tonnes of greenhouse emissions," Ms Birch said. Hermannsburg's station can churn out 200 kilowatts, providing half the daytime needs of the 600 residents, as well as another 300 kilowatts in five communities scattered within 100 kilometres.
Northern Australia sets record for solar power efficiency