This thesis has found that to generate electricity for a domestic supply, the use of a two stage line focus concentrator coupled to a Stirling engine by way of a heat pipe is very inefficient, and the end result (useful power) could be better achieved by a line focus system with a Rankine cycle heat engine, or by using photovoltaic cells. For larger systems such as that needed to supply a small community, a point focus solar Stirling engine is the most efficient system at this stage, but with the rapid improvements being made in the performance of photovoltaic cells, this may not be the case in the future.