SolarReserve Gets OK for 450 MW Solar Tower
David Wagman | March 06, 2017SolarReserve, which develops baseload solar power and solar thermal technology with energy storage, says it received environmental approval from the Chilean government to build 450 megawatts (MW) of solar thermal generating capacity.
The company says the facility would be one of the world’s largest solar projects with energy storage.
The Tamarugal Solar Project would include three 150 MW solar thermal towers, each with 13 hours of full-load energy storage. With 5.8 gigawatt-hours of total energy storage capacity, SolarReserve says the facility could deliver 450 MW of continuous output. The company says the facility would operate at a capacity factor and availability percentage equal to that of a coal-fired power plant.
(Watch a video of SolarReserve's technology.)
A field of heliostats surrounds a central tower. Credit: SolarReserveIn a typical installation, SolarReserve says that more than 10,000 tracking mirrors, called heliostats, occupy a 1,500 acre field, where they reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a large heat exchanger called a receiver that sits atop a 640-foot tower.
Inert and non-toxic molten salt flows within the thin-walled tubes of the receiver at a rate of more than 5,800 gallons per minute and absorbs the concentrated sunlight directed at it in the form of heat energy. The liquid salt is heated from 550°F (288°C) to more than 1050°F (566°C). Unlike water that flashes into steam at this temperature, these salts maintain their low pressure liquid state for what the company says is more efficient heat exchange and thermal storage.
One feature of the solar tower is a molten salt thermal storage system. Molten salt is the working fluid that both captures the sun’s energy and stores it until electricity is needed.
The Tamarugal Solar Project underwent an environmental assessment under the Chilean Impact Assessment System (Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental - SEIA) administered by the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA). It was awarded an environmental qualification resolution (Resolución de Calificación Ambiental) (RCA), the name for the Chilean environmental permit.
It is a fer piece to get the electrons from Tamaruga to the folks down south. The details of the mirror cleaning system would be interesting.
We have spent 20yrs designing an Atomic hydrogen reactor ie non nuclear uses the same fuel over and over ,zero pollution and would cost one quarter of this solar system.
About time someone took notice.