Solar plants are fascinating

[IRstuff]

Solar plant on the way to Las Vegas
> Scattered light shows up as the reflected sunlight converges on the target
> Scattered light is blue, consistent with why the sky is blue from directly scattered sunlight
> Sunlight power density is sufficient high enough that the scattered blue light power density is getting comparable to daylight sky

Pretty cool (hot) stuff

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[JohnRBaker]

Yes, we've watched this plant being constructed for several years. There are actually three solar generators at Ivanpah, CA, which is just a couple of miles from the Nevada border.

Here's one of the first pictures we took of the plant when it was under construction:

May 2012 (Sony Sony DSC-H2)

And here's a shot from a bit over a year later when at least part of plant was up and running:

September 2013 (Sony A65, 18-70mm)

This was the last time that I stopped to take some pictures, when all three solar generators were in operation:

April 2019 (Sony a6000, 16-50mm)


John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
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[dgallup]

I'm assuming these are both more efficient and less expensive than photovoltaic solar panels. Any idea how they stack up? I only see big farms of PV arrays in the east, never seen one of these in the flesh.

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[JohnRBaker]

Here are a couple of article which discuses the differences between CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) and PV (Photovoltaic):

https://www.solarfeeds.com/mag/csp-and-pv-differences-comparison/

https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/photovoltaics-vs-concentrated-solar-power

https://www.solarpaces.org/what-difference-pv-csp-solar/

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
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[LittleInch]

That first article makes some odd claims, but the key one is that PV like for like scale is about 3 to 4 times cheaper by the look of it.

Really not sure how much energy storage CSP can realistically store in terms of percent of daily energy. So I think it can even out peak energy better than PV, but not sure it's days of energy on cloudy days.

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[dik]

...and PV prices have dropped considerably in the last few years.

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[davidbeach]

But anything that involves large masses of iron spinning at synchronous speed is very beneficial to the electrical system as a whole.

When one this sentence into the German to translate wanted, would one the fact exploit, that the word order and the punctuation already with the German conventions agree.

-- Douglas Hofstadter, Jan 1982

 

[JohnRBaker]

Yes, and a CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) facility could also be part of co-generation set-up where the steam used to drive the turbine could be generated from more than one heat source, sunlight during the day, and natural gas at night, which would also benefit the electrical system as a whole.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:

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[IRstuff]

There actually is a PV farm about 1/4 mile north of the 3 CSP installations, if I'm remembering correctly. CSPs and PVs have unique advantages and disadvantages; it's not immediately obvious which is better, other than on a pure installation cost basis. What I've seen on Youtube suggests that as PV cost goes down further, there might be advantages to mixed installation PV and CSP where fixed PV panels could be placed in-between the moving ones, thereby upping the overall areal efficiency of the plant. Energy storage is still the big problem, despite what the articles say; moving and storing heat over large distances isn't necessarily a trivial matter, and battery costs are still pretty high.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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