2201052022 00:27 Saking away renewable energy for future use | ShareAmerica
(Courtesy pote)
Salting away renewable energy for future use
‘One of the biggest challenges in the solar energy field Is how to store electricity from
the sun. One solution may be ne farther than your salt shaker.
SolarReserve, @ California company, is pioneering a technology that uses molten salt as
‘a medium for long-term energy storage.
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‘The company’s Crescent Dunes solar power plant in Tonopah, Nevada, completed in
2015, is the first commercial plant in the United States to use this sophisticated storage
technology.
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Saking away renewable energy for future use | ShareAmerica
The plant’s 110-megawatt capacity can power 75,000 homes and run for 10 hours from
storage. That means overnight.
“The climate deal unveiled in Paris has the potential to catalyze a global energy
transformation. It will further accelerate Implementation of renewables around the
world, including within emerging markets such as Africa, Latin America and Asia,” said
SolarReserve chief executive Kevin Smith,
“Our proven U.S.-developed energy-storage technology deployed at the Crescent Dunes
facility is already being used as a blueprint for projects in these emerging markets,” he
added
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‘Sunlight hess sl to power stem generators to produce electrty, (Courtesy phot)
How does it work?
Mirrors that track the sun — 10,000 of them — reflect sunlight onto a receiver set atop
2 195-meter tower, Liquid salt is piped through the heated receiver. The molten salt
flows into an insulated thermal storage tank. As electricity is needed, the molten salt
moves through a steam-generation system where water is heated to produce high-
pressure steam. The steam drives a turbine that generates electricity. It works whether
the sun is shining or not.
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282201052022 00:27 Saking away renewable energy for future use | ShareAmerica
‘The steam-generation process is identical to those used to produce electri
coal or nuclear power plants, but itis 100 percent renewable, without harmful
‘greenhouse gas emissions.
ty from gas,
"So far, in the industry, that’s the state of the art — molten salt storage,” University of
‘South Florida solar power expert Yogi Goswami told the Los Angeles Times:
The molten salt storage technology deployed by SolarReserve resulted from decades of
design and testing by U.S. aerospace companies Rockwell International, Rocketdyne,
Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and Aerojet.
(Courtesy pote)
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gy for future use | ShareAmerica
SolarReserve has advanced projects that use molten salt storage underway in other
countries, in partnership with governments and private energy providers. Its Redstone
thermal power project in South Africa's Northern Cape province is slated for completion
in 2018, Another project Is being built in Chile, And the company recently sealed a deal
with Shenhua Group to build 1,000 megawatts of advanced solar energy installations in
China,
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