Utilities Testing Solar Thermal Tech at Traditional Power Plants
The Electric Power Research Institute announced yesterday that two utility companies (Dynasty Inc and NV Energy) will test out the addition of solar thermal energy to natural gas plants in Arizona and Nevada. The EPRI is conducting the project to determine if using solar thermal at fossil fuel plants will reduce fuel costs and plant emissions.
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The natural gas plants will add steam created by solar thermal fields to the conventional natural gas-powered steam cycle. Ultimately, EPRI plans to add solar thermal technology to coal-powered plants as well.
In addition to reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions, EPRI believes that solar thermal technology could also boost coal and natural gas power enough in existing plants to eliminate the need for new infrastructure. And since fossil fuel plants aren’t going anywhere, giving them renewable energy capabilities makes a great deal of sense.
Photo Credit: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Great idea!
Now, you need only connect the cold water intake to the solar arrays, then send the resulting warm water to the furnaces to bring it to a boil. That way the solar arrays will not radiate away their heat energy.
Very elegant.
The large coal-fired power station at Liddell in the Hunter River valley in New South Wales, Australia has been using supplemental heat from a solar array for about two years now. This mid-scale demonstration project (currently contributing 38MWth on sunny days towards the power station’s 2000MWe capacity) has been an all-round success and is being expanded. Eventually the solar component of the power plant’s output may approach 25%.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1837616.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/10/16/2393169.htm?site=upperhunter
This was the demonstration plant that proved the linear fresnel concentrating mirror technology now being commercialised in the USA by the firm Ausra. Ausra’s Canadian-born founder, David Mills, developed the technique whilst an academic at the University of Sydney.