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TUCSON - Astronomers at the University of Arizona have looked at distance stars for years. Now they're focused on the closest one to us; the sun. Or rather they're finding a new way to focus the sun on us. The results could well be the future of solar power.

"Everybody who as a kid fried a bug with a magnifying glass knows about this."

Roger Angel is a professor with the Department of Astronomy.

"So we've installed tarps in this structure which represent where the mirrors will go." Angel is standing in what used to be a swimming pool behind Bear Down Gym. It's now the Steward Observatory Solar Lab.

The principal: use mirrors to focus sunlight and concentrate the energy. And this method creates a lot of energy.

"If you focus that onto 1/4 inch steel, then in 15 seconds, you've melted a hole the size of a quarter in the steel," Angel explains.

The prototype solar tracker behind Bear Down Gym will generate 20 kilowatts when the real mirrors are in place. That's enough juice for four homes. The problem with solar is the cost. Angel says it breaks down to $5 per watt.

"So if you put 2 kilowatts on your roof, it's 2 times 5, it cost you $10,000."

The same math applies to utility companies.

"They may put in a million watts, but it will cost them $5 million dollars. And all those prices are kind of, like, 5 times higher than what you need to break even without subsidy."

Angel is trying to get the cost down to $1 per watt by focusing the sunlight on smaller less expensive cells. He likens the $1 mark to the Holy Grail of solar innovation. At this cost, he believes solar power will be competitive with fossil fuels. And that's when change can take place on a large scale. This could mean affordable solar-generated electricity delivered to your home.

Colleen Crowninshield is the Solar Partnership Programs Manager with Pima Association of Governments (PAG). She explains that this is exactly the break through Tucson needs.

"Three hundred and sixty days a year of sunshine. Why are we not doing this? It's silly. So we need to looking more towards solar for the average citizen not just for large corporations, large buildings."

The solar trackers are not designed for your back yard or roof top. The goal is to develop the system for power station quantity gigawatt level. Professor Angel hopes to accomplish this in 10 years. Funding for the research has come from the Department of Energy, Science Foundation of Arizona and from the University of Arizona among other sources.

A company, REHnu, was formed to develop and market the technology. For more information visit their website: http://www.rehnu.com/