The new 280-megawatt "solar" power plant can operate for 6 hours after sunset

The other day this power plant, called Solana, successfully passed the “dress rehearsal” after which the station was found suitable for commercial use. By the way, Solana (the Abengoa company created this power plant) is one of the largest "solar" power plants where parabolic mirrors are used. The dimensions of the station are rather big: 3200 parabolic mirrors, which occupy 7.8 square kilometers.

As mentioned above, the station's capacity is 280 megawatts. The principle of operation of this station is quite common: parabolic mirrors focus the sunlight, and direct it to the pipes with heat carrier (the role of which is oil, kind of like mineral). The heat carrier, in turn, is used to heat the water converted into steam. Well, the steam drives the turbines, as a result of which electricity is produced.
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The power plant is located approximately 100 kilometers from Phoenix, Arizona, in a southwesterly direction.

The most interesting thing in Solana is not its size, but the ability to work 6 hours after sunset. The fact is that the engineers of the company have designed a special thermal storage, so to speak, where the heated coolant accumulates. Thus, this power plant helps the region to cope with peak loads, which fall at the end of the evening - the beginning of the night.

Tests that the power plant successfully passed included a working start of the generator, at full capacity, with simultaneous “injection” of heat into the heat storage facility. Here it is no longer used oil, as far as can be understood, but molten salt.

At the moment, the leader among the thermal "solar" power plants is Ivanpah , a station with a capacity of 377 megawatts. However, this station works only during daylight hours, and idle at night.

Soon the station will begin to work in normal mode, the company owning Solana is now in the final stages of conducting contracts with electricity buyers in the region.

Via ieee.org