Golden Bath Solar Power Generation

Are molten salt towers the next-generation technology for solar thermal power?

Mark Mehos, thermal systems group manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), says molten salt towers akin to SolarReserve’s are “the next-generation technology” for solar thermal power. Plants without storage may never be able to compete with PV, says Mehos.

Can a solar power plant provide electricity if the Sun is not shining?

A California firm is converting sunlight to heat and storing it in molten salt so it can supply electricity when the wind is calm or the sun isn’t shining The 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Facility in Nevada is the first utility-scale concentrating solar plant that can provide electricity whenever it's needed most, even after dark.

How do concentrating solar power plants achieve higher efficiencies?

Project Summary: To achieve higher efficiencies, concentrating solar power plants can use the Brayton power cycle, an engine design that uses supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO 2) as a fluid to transfer heat. Current CSP plants use steam Rankine cycles, in which 35% to 42% of the collected heat is converted to electricity.

Could a solar thermal design turn the tide?

Solar power projects intended to turn solar heat into steam to generate electricity have struggled to compete amid tumbling prices for solar energy from solid-state photovoltaic (PV) panels. But the first commercial-scale implementation of an innovative solar thermal design could turn the tide.

What is the Ivanpah Solar System?

The Ivanpah system consists of three solar thermal power plants on 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) of public land near the California–Nevada border in the Southwestern United States. Initially it was planned with 440 MW gross on 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land, but then downgraded by 12%.

Could SolarReserve get more power from steam turbines?

That temperature boost squeezes 5 to 6 percent more power from the plant’s steam turbines and enables a tank of salt to hold two to three times as much energy. The temperature advantage could grow: In September, SolarReserve won a US $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a ceramic receiver that can withstand 732 °C.