The Solar Collector is a giant thermal collector dish, located on a small mountain next to Taiwan. The great big dish is made up of thousands of tiny, individually controlled mirrors, which are controlled within the building the dish sits on.
Appearing in Ring of Fire Part 2, the Solar Collector started to fall out of alignment due to all the earthquakes happening, causing it to face down at the city and threatening to burn it down via reflected sunlight shortly after sunrise. On top of this, several workers were trapped inside the building due to rubble blocking the exits. Multiple incidents were caused by the earthquakes, but this one was considered the deadliest by International Rescue, so Scott Tracy arrived on the scene in Thunderbird 1, and was later joined by Virgil Tracy in Thunderbird 2.
The dish couldn't be tilted away by Thunderbird 2 without further damage to the facility endangering the workers within, and the existing damage prevented Scott's option of turning around the mirrors. With a burning beam of reflected light on its way to the city, the Solar Collector had to be destroyed.
The workers were set free by a Power Suited Virgil, and the Solar Collector's primary support arm was cut by Scott, sending the dish sliding down the mountain and facing the sky, saving the city. Crowds were cheering and hugging each other as the Thunderbirds set a course for home.