The efficiency of the solar field greatly depends on the ability of the heliostats to precisely reflect solar radiation onto a central receiver. To control the heliostats with such a precision requires the accurate knowledge of the motion of each of them. The motion of each heliostat can be described by a set of parameters, most notably the position and axis configuration. These parameters have to be determined individually for each heliostat during a calibration process. With the ongoing development of small sized heliostats, the ability to automatically perform such a calibration becomes more and more crucial as possibly hundreds of thousands of heliostats are involved. Furthermore, efficiency becomes an important factor as small sized heliostats potentially have to be recalibrated far more often, due to the limited stability of the components. In the following we present an automatic calibration procedure using cameras attached to each heliostat which are observing different targets spread throughout the solar field. Based on a number of observations of these targets under different heliostat orientations, the parameters describing the heliostat motion can be estimated with high precision.

In the current Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) context, where Central Receiver System (CRS) technology seems to be the most promising CSP technology with the highest cost reduction potential, CENER and IK4-TEKNIKER have joined efforts to develop an innovative heliostat concept within the framework of the EASY (hEliostats for eAsy and Smart deploYment) project, which will make it possible to reduce costs down to 100$/m2.The current work presents, the strengths of the EASY concept in comparison to current state-of-the-art technology available today. Furthermore, the most significant development lines and advances carried out within the EASY project are described, as a first introduction of an innovative work that is being further developed