A light collecting module that includes at least one light concentrating unit, at least one collimating unit, and a focusing mirror is provided. The light concentrating unit has a light input end and a light output end opposite to the light input end, and the light concentrating unit is configured to collect lights at various incident angles through the light input end and concentrate the lights on the light output end. The collimating unit collimates the lights from the light output end of the light concentrating unit. The focusing mirror focuses the collimated lights from the collimating unit on a focus of the focusing mirror.

A hybrid solar reactor and a heat storage system are disclosed. The hybrid solar reactor includes one or more heaters and a solar light guide assembly coupled to a shell of the reactor. The solar light guide assembly includes a solar light guide to direct solar energy to, for example, one or more reactor tubes within the shell.

A heat receiver, a reactor, and a heater utilize the heat of concentrated solar light for thermal decomposition and/or chemical reaction of coals, etc. The heat receiver includes: a side portion forming a substantially cylindrical side surface; a substantially circular bottom portion connected to the lower edge of the side portion; and a ceiling connected to the upper edge of the side portion. A substantially circular aperture is formed in the center of the ceiling. The heat receiver has a substantially cylindrical cavity and the opening portion is open. When the cavity has a diameter of D and a length of L, and the aperture has a diameter of d, d=D/2 or less and L=2D or more. Concentrated solar light entering the heat receiver is to be contained in the heat receiver to effectively utilize the solar light.

The present disclosure provides a system and method for collecting, focusing, storing, and releasing energy. The system comprises of a collector unit (102) provided for collecting energy (101) released from a source (110) using optical means. A storage unit (103) is operatively connected to the collector unit (102) for storing the collected energy using optical means and a reflector unit (104) is operatively connected to the storage unit (103) for reflecting the stored energy released from the storage unit (103) using optical means.