12-11-2012, 12:17 PM
Molten Salt Technology In Solar Power Plant
Molten Salt Technology.pptx (Size: 287.47 KB / Downloads: 64)
Introduction
When it comes about renewable energy sources, sun comes at first. So here comes the question “How much energy we are utilizing?”
We use solar cells for conversion of thermal energy to usable form of energy at day time, but what about night time?
One of the biggest problems with solar energy is that the sun does not shine 24 hours & we never utilize the energy at night time.
The energy stored in the rechargeable cell by the help of solar cell is not practically possible for running a power plant.
So here is a project which utilizes solar energy at night time.
What is this ?
We know that molten salt is a good absorber of heat, i.e. it can store heat for a long period of time.
In the molten salt technology the thermal energy of sun stored as heat & it is used to generate electricity at any time.
Working Principle
This project is designed as a solar power tower with thousand of tracking mirrors(heliostats).
These mirrors focus sun light on the receiver that sits at the top of the central tower to collect thermal energy.
Whereas most of the solar power towers use this thermal energy to heat water in to steam to power turbine, solar preserver’s system uses to heat molten salt to store energy.
Molten salt is a mixture of Sodium Nitrate & Potassium Nitrate that is nonflammable , nontoxic , efficient & inexpensive energy storage medium.
The sunlight heats this molten salt to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (537.8 degrees Celsius) before it flows through to a thermal storage tank where the company says it maintains 98 percent thermal efficiency.
Advantages
The Solar Reserver project has a capability to produce electricity per day which is equal to the amount consumed per one night in Las Vegas( 2nd largest power consuming city in USA) & is equal to the net power consumed per day in our state Odisha.
The power consumed in our state per year is approximately 340,000 MW & the production of solar reserver is nearly equal to 450,000MW. So one power plant is enough for whole Odisha’s power consumption.
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Implementation
Molten salt technology was demonstrated in the Solar Two project in the Mojave Desert that had the ability to produce 10 MW of electricity.
In an indication of California’s commitment to solar and other renewable energy solutions, SolarReserver received approval for the construction and operation of the 150 MW solar tower project in a record time of 13 months from the initial application.
The Rice Solar Energy Project will be located 48 km northwest of Blythe in eastern Riverside County & will supply approximately 450,000 MWh of zero-emission electricity annually – enough to power up to 68,000 homes .