Big Solar Furnace

What it is

The Big Solar Furnace is one of the largest solar furnaces in the world. It stands about 45 km east of Tashkent in the foothills of Parkent District, at roughly 1,050–1,100 m above sea level. Built between 1981 and 1987, it went into operation in 1987 and belongs to the Physics–Sun research and production association and the Institute of Materials Science of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences.

The site was chosen with care: the sun shines here on 250–270 days a year and the air is clean and thin. According to the staff, the whole complex rests on a single rock mass, so that an earthquake would not knock the heliostats out of alignment with the concentrator.

How it works

Sixty-two heliostats, stepped up the hillside, catch the sunlight and reflect it onto a vast concave mirror — the concentrator, 54 m high and 47 m wide. This focuses the light onto a small spot on the technology tower. In all, the complex has more than 12,000 mirrors. An optical sensor in front of each heliostat keeps it aimed at its own section of the concentrator.

The furnace has a thermal power of one megawatt. It can reach more than 3,000 °C within seconds and change temperature rapidly, which lets scientists study how materials respond to thermal shock. Because heating is by radiation alone, samples are not contaminated by fuel or exhaust. Heat-resistant ceramics, nanopowders and materials for the aviation and space industries are tested here, and in 2000 a training centre for students and young researchers opened on site. Few installations of this kind exist; the best-known counterpart is the Odeillo solar furnace in France.

On the UNESCO list

In July 2026 the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, inscribed the serial property “Tashkent Modernist Architecture: Modernity and Tradition in Central Asia”. Nine of its ten components are in Tashkent; the tenth is the Big Solar Furnace at Parkent. The advisory body ICOMOS had recommended leaving the furnace out, but the Committee kept it in the inscription.

Visiting

The complex is open for guided tours of the heliostat field, the concentrator and the tower, and a viewing platform at the highest point takes in the whole installation and the valley. The furnace only works in sunshine, so pick a clear day.