Spain:
Recently a company called Torresol Energy managed to solve one of the biggest issues linked with harnessing solar energy.
It managed to create a 19.9 megawatt Gemasolar concentrated solar power plant, which is located in Andalucia province, Spain. The plant features 2 tanks of molten salt that gather heat energy produced throughout the day. Thus it can generate 24/7.
The plant consists of thousands of square meters of mirrors (and not solar panels). These mirrors are used to concentrate the same sunlight in one point (similar to when you use a magnifying glass). Then the fluid that flows past the focal point heats up to hundreds of degrees Celsius and makes use of the heat to power a turbine.
The new solar plant consists of 60 percent potassium nitrate and 40 percent sodium nitrate and the fusion of the two allows retaining 99 percent of the heat energy produced by the plant. This energy is later reused.
The somewhat small Gemasolar plant will be able to generate about 110,000 MWh of energy each year, which is enough to supply with energy over 25,000 homes.
It is worth mentioning that the plant was designed to work 6,500 hours annually. This concentrated solar power plant was officially launched in May 2011.
Recently a company called Torresol Energy managed to solve one of the biggest issues linked with harnessing solar energy.
It managed to create a 19.9 megawatt Gemasolar concentrated solar power plant, which is located in Andalucia province, Spain. The plant features 2 tanks of molten salt that gather heat energy produced throughout the day. Thus it can generate 24/7.
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| A Lot of solar cells together |
The plant consists of thousands of square meters of mirrors (and not solar panels). These mirrors are used to concentrate the same sunlight in one point (similar to when you use a magnifying glass). Then the fluid that flows past the focal point heats up to hundreds of degrees Celsius and makes use of the heat to power a turbine.
The new solar plant consists of 60 percent potassium nitrate and 40 percent sodium nitrate and the fusion of the two allows retaining 99 percent of the heat energy produced by the plant. This energy is later reused.
The somewhat small Gemasolar plant will be able to generate about 110,000 MWh of energy each year, which is enough to supply with energy over 25,000 homes.
It is worth mentioning that the plant was designed to work 6,500 hours annually. This concentrated solar power plant was officially launched in May 2011.
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