The design of future central receiver power plants based on lessons learned from the Solar One Pilot Plant
The 10-MW{sub e} Solar One Pilot Plant was the world's largest solar central receiver power plant. During its power production years it delivered over 37,000 MWhrs (net) to the utility grid. In this type of electric power generating plant, large sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a receiver mounted on top a of a tower. The receiver transforms the solar energy into thermal energy that heats water, turning it into superheated steam that drives a turbine to generate electricity. The Solar One Pilot Plant successfully demonstrated the feasibility of generating electricity with a solar central receiver power plant. During the initial 2 years the plant was tested and 4 years the plant was operated as a power plant, a great deal of data was collected relating to the efficiency and reliability of the plant's various systems. This paper summarizes these statistics and compares them to goals developed by the US Department of Energy. Based on this comparison, improvements in the design and operation of future central receiver plants are recommended. Research at Sandia National Laboratories and the US utility industry suggests that the next generation of central receiver power plants will use a molten salt heat transfer fluid rather than water/steam. Sandia has recently completed the development of the hardware needed in a molten salt power plant. Use of this new technology is expected to solve many of the performance problems encountered at Solar One. Projections for the energy costs from these future central receiver plants are also presented. For reference, these projections are compared to the current energy costs from the SEGS parabolic trough plants now operating in Southern California.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/CE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 6241656
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-90-3142C; CONF-9104123-1; ON: DE91005224
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1991 solar power systems conference, Yalta (USSR), 22-26 Apr 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Baseload Nitrate Salt Central Receiver Power Plant Design (Final Report)
Central Receiver Solar Thermal Power System, Phase 1: preliminary design report. Volume II. System description and system analysis. [150 MW commercial tower focus plant and 10 MW pilot plant]
Related Subjects
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
DESIGN
COMPUTERIZED CONTROL SYSTEMS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC GENERATORS
HELIOSTATS
MODIFICATIONS
PERFORMANCE
SOLAR RECEIVERS
TURBINES
CONTROL SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
MACHINERY
POWER PLANTS
SIMULATION
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TURBOMACHINERY
140702* - Solar Thermal Power Systems- Central Receiver