New Database Shines Spotlight on Decades of Solar Mirror Research
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The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is preparing to unveil a database containing the results of exposure experiments on solar reflectors conducted over more than four decades
NREL Launches New International Consortium To Advance High-Tech Mirrors Used in Solar Plants
Researchers Seek To Lower Cost of Heliostats 50% and Jump-Start Manufacturing in the United States
Heliogen and Bloom Energy Lead the Way to Produce Low-Cost, Green Hydrogen Following Successful Demonstration
Longer run time and steam generation through concentrated solar, combined with high-temperature electrolysis, unlock low-cost hydrogen production
New fractal-like concentrating solar power receivers are better at absorbing sunlight
Kristen Meub for Phys.org: India is interested in developing 1 megawatt or smaller CSP facilities that could provide the appropriate amount of power for a small village or community.
SaltX, Aalborg CSP to develop integrated energy storage solution
Conor Ryan for Energy Storage News: A first prototype of the storage system is expected to be developed later in 2017, with both companies planning to secure a commercial pilot plant during 2018.
High-tech canopy helps generate solar power while providing shade
Barbara Eldredge for Curbed: Imaginative architect and designer Carlo Ratti has had some bonkers ideas over the past year, including an exercise-powered gym barge and a mile-high skyscraper park. But his latest project is on the sunnier side of feasibility. Literally.
The Sun&Shade is a light-reflecting canopy made of mirrors that automatically rotate to catch the sun’s rays and fling them at a photovoltaic panel, “located a safe distance away.” This generates clean electricity up top while cooling the shaded area beneath. A working prototype of the mirrored structure just debuted at Dubai’s Museum of the Future as part of its “Reimagining Climate Change.” Cont'd...
World's Largest Solar Project Would Generate Electricity 24 Hours a Day, Power 1 Million U.S. Homes
Lorraine Chow for EcoWatch: The race to build the world's largest solar power plant is heating up. California-based energy company SolarReserve announced plans for a massive concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Nevada that claims to be the largest of its kind once built.
SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the $5 billion endeavor would generate between 1,500 and 2,000 megawatts of power, enough to power about 1 million homes. That amount of power is as much as a nuclear power plant, or the 2,000-megawatt Hoover Dam and far bigger than any other existing solar facility on Earth, the Review-Journal pointed out.
"It's a big project," Smith told the publication. "It's an ambitious project." Cont'd...
FRENELL's CSP technology to contribute to the success of China's renewable energy targets
The 13th five-year National Development Plan initiated by the National Energy Administration (NEA) for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) set the goal to install Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants with a total capacity of 10 Gigawatt by 2020 in China.
Dubai Is Building the World's Largest Concentrated Solar Power Plant
George Dvorsky for Gizmodo: They like to do things big in Dubai, including a newly-approved concentrated solar power project that will generate 1,000 megawatts of power by 2020—and a whopping 5,000 megawatts by 2030.
The Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) has announced the launch of the world’s largest concentrated solar power (CSP) project. Located on a single site within the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the plant will consist of five facilities. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed either in late 2020 or 2021, at which time it’s expected to generate 1,000 MW of power. By 2030, this plant could be churning out five times that amount—enough to raise the emirate’s total power output by 25 percent.
By comparison the Ivanpah CSP in California (which is currently the world’s largest) generates about 392 MW of power. Morocco’s Ouarzazate solar power plant will provide about 580 MW of power once it’s complete in 2020. Cont'd...
This Solar Power Plant Can Run All Night
Justin Worland for Time: Crescent Dunes looks and sounds a bit like an invention lifted from a science fiction novel. Deep in the Nevada desert more than 10,000 mirrors—each the size of a highway billboard—neatly encircle a giant 640-foot tower. It looks like it might be used to communicate with aliens in deep space.
But the engineers and financiers behind the facility, located in the desert about halfway between Las Vegas and Reno, say the power plant’s promise is anything but fiction. The solar power facility built and operated by the company SolarReserve can power 75,000 homes. What sets it apart from other big solar projects is that this plant can store power for use when it is most needed, including cloudy days and after dark—a major advance for renewable energy technology. Cont'd...
Newly Built Concentrated Solar Power Plants - Time To Consider Flushing and Cleaning as an Industry Standard?
A recent research paper published in Applied Thermal Engineering highlights the importance of defined protocols to effectively flush and clean newly built facilities, which is needed prior to filling the system with expensive fluids, such as solar thermal fluids.
Solar Thermal Fluid Sampling: Personal Safety and System Design Considerations
Managing fluids at high temperatures presents a safety hazard as the fluid may come into contact with the engineer whilst the fluid is being sampled
Solar Thermal Fluids - Why It Is So Important To Choose The Right Fluid
The most popular fluid used in CSP plants is the eutectic mixture of BDO. This fluid has a high operating temperature (up to 400 degrees Celsius), a low viscosity and good thermal stability.
Sampling And Chemical Analysis Of Solar Heat Transfer Fluids
Heat transfer fluids (HTFs) are used in a variety of processes to connect a source of heat with a system requiring thermal energy and are commonly used in CSP plants.
Sand could be the key to unlocking more efficient solar power, Masdar scientists find
Naser Al Wasmi for The National UAE: Masdar Institute scientists have published a breakthrough research into more efficient solar power – and they will not have to look far for the raw material needed.
Using sand, they hope to drive concentrated solar power technology to compete with the traditional photovoltaic method.
Named “Sandstock”, the research published at the Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems Conference in South Africa yesterday, showed sand can withstand temperatures of up to 1,000°C.
Concentrated solar power, or CSP, uses mirrors to reflect heat from the sun to one point, most typically a tower filled with a material capable of storing heat and then converting it into electricity.
CSP’s benefit is that the energy derived is easy to store, but in recent years it has lost out to the more popular photovoltaics, which is more cost-efficient.
That may now change.
“Sand is really always a drawback in this country but in this project we wanted to use it as an advantage because it can withstand very high temperature, and of course it is very cheap here,” said Dr Nicolas Calvet, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering, and guide for the research project. Cont'd...
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