Conversion of solar energy to electrical and/or heat energy

A light energy collection system, comprising:

• a primary mirror having a concave specular surface constructed and positioned to receive light energy and focus it towards a focal point;
• a secondary mirror having a convex specular surface constructed and positioned to receive focused light energy from the primary mirror and focus it onto an annular receiver positioned between the primary mirror and the secondary mirror, wherein the annular receiver includes an annular array of optical elements operable to focus the light energy received from the secondary mirror onto a ring of discrete areas within the annular receiver, said convex specular surface being formed by:
• providing a hyperbolic curve formed symmetrically about an axis and having a concave side, a convex side, an imaginary focus point on the concave side and a real focal point on the convex side;
• tilting the axis and the hyperbolic curve about the imaginary focus point, so that in its tilted position the axis is separated from its original position by an acute angle and the parabolic curve is tilted from its original position;
• rotating the portion of the tilted hyperbolic curve that extends from the original axis to the tilted axis and beyond the tilted axis, about the original axis, so that the rotated portion of the tilted hyperbolic curve forms a surface of revolution about the original axis;
• and
• providing the convex specular surface of the secondary mirror with the shape of the surface of revolution so that the specular surface will have an annular focus pattern.