A solar collector for use in concentrating solar rays into a high flux density image is formed from laminate plies. Electricity is produced by superimposing the image onto a concentrated photovoltaic cell. Plies are cut from a composite sheet that is made up of carbon fibers in a thermoset polymer, where the carbon fibers run generally parallel with one another. By varying how the plies are cut from the sheet, carbon fibers in different plies are oriented at alternating angles in the plies. The plies arc stacked to form a laminate, where the carbon fibers in each ply are at an angle with carbon fibers in adjacent plies. The plies may include alignment tabs to control the angle between adjacent plies. Pressing the laminate in a heated die and cooling the die with forced convection and then a fluid bath forms a shell for the solar collector.