Environment

World’s largest solar facility proposed - 20,000-dish array, 4,500-acre and 850 MW

World’s largest solar facility proposed - 20,000-dish array, 4,500-acre and 850 MW
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August 13, 2005 Edison International subsidiary Southern California Edison (SCE), the nation’s leading purchaser of renewable energy, and Stirling Energy Systems have announced an agreement that could result in construction of a massive, 4,500-acre solar generating station in Southern California. When completed, the proposed power station would be the world’s largest solar facility, capable of producing more electricity than all other U.S. solar projects combined. The 20-year power purchase agreement signed this week, which is subject to California Public Utilities Commission approval, calls for development of a 500-megawatt (MW) solar project 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles using innovative Stirling dish technology.

The agreement includes an option to expand the project to 850 MW. Initially, Stirling would build a one-MW test facility using 40 of the company’s 37-foot-diameter dish assemblies. Subsequently, a 20,000-dish array would be constructed near Victorville, Calif., during a four-year period.

“At a time of rising fossil-fuel costs and increased concern about greenhouse-gas emissions, the Stirling project would provide enough clean power to serve 278,000 homes for an entire year,” said SCE Chairman John Bryson. “Edison is committed to facilitating development of new, environmentally sensitive, renewable energy technologies to meet the growing demand for electricity here and throughout the U.S.”

Although Stirling dish technology has been successfully tested for 20 years, the SCE-Stirling project represents its first major application in the commercial electricity generation field. Experimental models of the Stirling dish technology have undergone more than 26,000 hours of successful solar operation. A six-dish model Stirling power project is currently operating at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“We are especially pleased about the financial benefits of this agreement for our customers and the state,” said Alan Fohrer, SCE chief executive officer. “The contract requires no state subsidy and provides favorable pricing for ratepayers because tests have shown the Stirling dish technology can produce electricity at significantly lower costs than other solar technologies.”

How It Works

The Stirling dish technology converts thermal energy to electricity by using a mirror array to focus the sun’s rays on the receiver end of a Stirling engine. The internal side of the receiver then heats hydrogen gas which expands. The pressure created by the expanding gas drives a piston, crank shaft, and drive shaft assembly much like those found in internal combustion engines but without igniting the gas. The drive shaft turns a small electricity generator. The entire energy conversion process takes place within a canister the size of an oil barrel. The process requires no water and the engine is emission-free.

Comparison to Other Solar Technologies

Tests conducted by SCE and the Sandia National Laboratories have shown that the Stirling dish technology is almost twice as efficient as other solar technologies. These include parabolic troughs which use the sun’s heat to create steam that drives turbines similar to those found in conventional power plants, and photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight directly into electricity by means of semiconducting materials like those found in computer chips.

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2 comments
2 comments
Ludwig Heinrich
Whatever happened to this?
Techrex
?? In Mexico, many roadside billboard signs have a special surface on their unseen side, that makes the morning dew that condenses on that surface to be wicked and dripped into a set up on the ground, to provide a renewable water source from the cold air in the early hours. They us it provide free showers for the locals around the billboards. My question is, if we have these enormous solar reflectors being built all over the world now, and also vast arrays of very big solar power panels, would it to be feasible to install that same kind of morning dew absorbing surface on the back sides of these reflectors and panels, so that, in addition to providing clean electricity, they provide a lot of clean water as well?