14 DAY TRIAL // Solar power could become truly competitive with other sources of energy within a few years, due to a new technology seeking to harness and store sunlight even after the sun has gone down.
It is currently tested by two major companies from California: SolarReserve and BrightSource, the Telegraph informs.
The process is simple. Both enterprises use a network of computer-operated tracking mirrors, called heliostats, redirecting sunlight towards a tower that captures it and coverts it into heat.
They rely on mirrors, molten salt, Steam generators and turbines to offer affordable energy, aiming to become cheaper than natural gas or coal in the near future.
“Within the receiver, the concentrated sunlight heats molten salt to over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit (537.8°C). The heated molten salt then flows into a thermal storage tank where it is stored, maintaining 98% thermal efficiency, and eventually pumped to a steam generator. The steam drives a standard turbine to generate electricity,” officials from SolarReserve explain.
The power plant will function just like a coal-burning one, only it will have a zero impact on the environment, since molten salt is an eco-friendly, cost-efficient mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate, the same elements we could find in garden fertilizer.
The plan seems tempting enough, since major players like Google, Good Energies and Chevron have already announced their eagerness to invest in it.
Moreover, the new technique of storing sunlight has captured the attention of utility companies, already signing agreements to purchase clean green power from the new generation of plants.
SolarReserve is currently building a new power plant which will start functioning next year, in the Nevada desert, while BrightSource has set an even more ambitious goal, seeking to open three factories in California in 2016 and 2017.
So far, SolarReserve has received a $737 million (€567 million) loan from the Energy Department to build its innovative solar plant providing renewable power.
Developers have indicated that the new facility could offer 110 megawatts at peak and collect enough heat to last for up to 10 hours in the absence of sunlight.