eSolar Turns On First Solar Power Tower In U.S.

Los Angeles Times:

The hundreds of glass mirrors break the dusty field in Lancaster, a sea of silver in a landscape of brown.

When switched on for the first time today at an opening gala with investors, local politicians and others, they'll make up the first operational solar tower energy facility in the United States.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[DRaymond]

This is a relatively minor modification to a basic design (field of tracking mirrors pointing toward a tower mounted boiler) that was protyperd in production use decades ago. It is a stretch to call it a 'first'.

[busybee64]

This is a neat invention, but it doesn't power thousands of homes. It provides some peak power to them to offset additional natural gas consumption. Solar capacity factors are typically les than 20 percent compared to greater then 90 for a nuclear, hydro, gas fired, coal, etc. The nice thing about solar is it follows peak demand trends. It does not however provide base load, which we take for granted in a first world country.

[KillTheMessenger]

It won't have to provide base load for another 30 years or more. After that a significant amount of solar energy can be stored by a plethora of physical and chemical methods with an efficiency between 50-80%, which will still make it plenty economical. By the time we are running out of runway for these methods, we are in the 2080-2100 time scale. And to predict what the technological solution of choice will be then is beyond my and your ability.

:-)

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

A large Boiler comes to mind as storage. Just needs good insulation and economy of scale.

[BannedNBoston]

Wonderfull!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Pmb2Rt47g&feature=PlayList&p=7661203F0FEFBA31&index=8

[TJCole]

Every second the Sun creates more energy than man has ever used in his entire time on this Earth...!

This is very cool..!

[Marlyn]

"The hundreds of glass mirrors break the dusty field in Lancaster, a sea of silver in a landscape of brown."

Isn't there a problem keeping all those mirrors from getting dusty?

Also this method uses WATER! in the desert!

Wind is the better way to go.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Water is recycled. Dust is a concern. 20% drop in efficiency worst case. Some maintenance will be required.

[psbintl]

Fantastic!

[cowboy1]

wow. now we can have those millions of green jobs. they can all work at that tower. not!

[VillageReader]

Your a jerk. Try being positive for a change. It's a step forward.

[KillTheMessenger]

No centralized power source creates millions of jobs. Just ask all the people you know who do not work at a thermal or nuclear power plant. Having said that, there are tens of millions of homes in this country which need green updates, including solar. And that does create millions of new jobs.

[WilliamL]

Good news.

Long over due but better late than never,

strap panels to all homes across the country and kiss concerns and wars in the middle-east good by.

tired of supporting the violence, rape, murder, abuse of females, children, and on and on of the entire region every time I fill my tank.

Perhaps turning poppies into fuel might be an idea as well.

[commentsareus]

I love this idea! I want to make one for my home, in my back yard. Wish I weren't so far north.

[Tyler-Durden]

this is great. i wish more people would get on board with this movement. the more great minds on it, the faster we'll have a practical product for consumer market. this should have been done a decade ago.

look at how far the cell phone has come, from a brick tethered to a shoulder bag battery, do something even Dick Tracy would raise eyebrows to. Solar could have been on this growth curve if it was supported, rather than suppressed.

[GravitonX]

Solar thermal is beset with technical problems, most notably, vast and immediate fluctuations in solar intensity and uneven irradation of the thermal vessel. Of course, this guy, coming from Caltech, should know this - but he probably keeps those nasty details from the investors. There was a massive failure involving solar thermal from some slick, flossed resume' entrepreneurs in the 80s called Luz (I) - Luz II is in the works, and now, they're looking for billions. These projects typical offer pie-in-the-sky results and end up attracting much sucker money.

[SharpDressedMan]

Solar energy is good as a supplementary energy source. It shouldn't be the only source.

[Tyler-Durden]

there are plenty of places where its sunny all day, every day. these areas should be covered with solar. i'd cover as much desert space with solar collectors as possible. i wouldn't try to stick them in places where it's not practical. same thing with ocean current tidal generators.

if we had solar collectors in the desert, tide generators where the strongest currents were, and wind generators where the steadiest winds were, we'd be contributing a lot to the grid. if the grid were updated to be nationwide, the juice would be shared most efficiently. with hydro gen on our rivers already, and the nuclear power we have already, we could definitely pull alot of these coal plants offline, and see if they can be retooled to burn cleaner.

it's got to be a little of everything. THERE IS NO ONE MAGIC SOLUTION FOR ANY PROBLEM.

[amdezurik]

did you mean this?

The Luz plants have generated more than 11,000 gigawatt-hours and produced more than 1.7 billion dollars of revenue over the past 22 years. These plants are still generating electricity to the Southern California Edison grid and operating profitably. No other company has come close to the Luz solar thermal industry track record.

[Tyler-Durden]

this is a perfect example of the naysayer rhetoric. so sure they know something about which they are speaking, when they are actually completely unaware of reality. could you imagine if they built these all over mexico, or arizona, or anywhere else that is all sun, all the time?

[davidinct]

May be slightly off-topic here, but didn't one of these devices play a pivotal role in the plot line of an old James Bond movie? And NOW (finally), we have one for real! (Is 007 lurking somewhere nearby?)

[SharpDressedMan]

The idea of mirrors reflecting sunlight in one small area to generate heat isn't new by any means. Now that we are more serious about renewable energy, old ideas are put in practice.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Recycle everything ... including good ideas.

[AZAFVET]

It's not rocket science. I remember seeing plans for a backyard solar generator in a Mother Earth News magazine back in the 70's. It used a 3 meter parbolic dish antenna like from a satellite with 1 ft square mirror tiles focused on a car radiator. The sun was reflected by the mirror tiles into the radiator causing it to boil and the steam was then fed to a small turbine that powered the electric generator/­alternator making electricity. They also had plans for a hybrid vehicle with a small gas engine running a generator to recharge batteries used for propulsion.

[hunt49]

Nice pic - my grandfather was a career AF SAC vet, a B-24/B-36/B-52 navigator. He was airborne and carrying nuclear payload during the entire Cuba Missle Crisis. Went to Korea, Vietnam, and who knows where else. The good ol' farts and darts!

[Apollonavigator]

Way to go. Now if only the environmentalists would allow the transmission lines to be installed to where the power is needed.
We have several hundred super windmills in our area. Last month for the third time, transmission line upgrades were denied becuse of the effect on the environment.
In southern Cal, the transmission line debate continues, preventing solar and wind power from being further developed in the southern desert regions.
In the Altamont Pass east of San Francisco, all wind construction has been halted because of bird strikes.

[AZAFVET]

Why not bury the xmission lines?

[Apollonavigator]

That would be great. But the technology, land rights and cost usually makes it prohibitive to trench great distances.

[leduck]

I love solar thermal energy.
traditioanl solar cells are expensive. thin film solar, which is cheaper, uses rare elements that will deplete fast.
solar thermal doesn't have that problem.
Plus it's simpler to make. simplicity is almost always better. easier to make, easier to fix, etc.

yep -- i love the solar thermal thing. much more then PV

[iblogleft]

A guy at MIT made a collector that is one round dish mirror with a metal tube at the focal point that could power an entire home with a steam generator, and it fits in your back yard. These could be made for less than 10k, but there is no way they will ever allow them to be mass produced.

This is capitalism folks, and nothing that is going to take profit from these profiteers will be allowed to succeed.

[CR46]

We actually use a wind turbine system on our ranch, within one more year, it will have paid for itself.

[fcsakes]

There is no way they could stop them from being produced. Mainly because just about anybody could produce them.

[SomaMinneapolis]

Please cite the inventor and said invention.

[iblogleft]

http://www.insidetech.com/news/articles/2389

[iblogleft]

By the way, this was virtually ignored.