Lab Tour: Washington Nanofabrication Facility
Final Reflection: Molten Salt Solar Thermal with Integrated Energy Storage
The article I read pertains to a new solar thermal plant proposed by SolarReserve. SolarReserve has built a utility scale facility in Nevada to develop the technology, but plans to build a second facility with 10 arrays. The proposed plant in Nevada will power about 1 million California homes, supplying more energy than the Hoover Dam. I selected this article because I believe that integrating energy storage into the grid is imperative to enable the production of sustainable electricity. I saw this headline about a month ago, and was interested in investigating it further in the context of what I have learned in this class.
SolarReserve’s facility has integrated energy storage, a feature that is imperative for the shift to a sustainable electric grid. This new facility uses a huge mirror array to concentrate the sun’s energy and melt a mixture of salts. The molten salt is stored at 566ºC for use whenever needed. The stored heat is used to vaporize water and power generators. I think this technology has the potential to fill an important gap that photovoltaics cannot fill: energy on demand. While photovoltaics will only produce energy during the daytime, this solar thermal plant can store heat energy for conversion and use at night. This technology can help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels currently used to produce this needed on-demand energy. This makes this technology much more worthwhile from an investment standpoint, and gives this energy an advantage in reaching grid parity.
The environmental impact of this plant will be quite low. The Las Vegas Review Journal claims that the plant will have a low impact of wildlife, stating that at the already built utility scale Nevada facility, “the full-time biologists on site have logged around 60 bird deaths over the past year”. For a facility of this size, the author claims that this is a very small number. I agree; I believe that in a plant this size, a small number of animal deaths is to be expected. The plant uses a nontoxic mix of salts as a heat transfer and storage liquid. The salt is within a closed system, and, according to SolarReserve, does not need to be replaced or refilled throughout the lifetime of the plant. Furthermore, the mirrors used in the plant are on heliostats and can tilt to reflect the light from the sun directly onto the tower receiver. This optimized the energy collection throughout the day as the sun’s angle changes.
Construction and operation of this plant will have several economic facets. The plant is set to create upwards of 3000 jobs in Nevada during construction. It will take a large, diverse team to set up and maintain this plant. This will likely have a positive impact on Nevada’s economy and job market. Per the Las Vegas Review journal, “NV Energy agreed to buy that plant’s entire output at 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour — roughly twice the cost of power from a natural gas-fueled plant — for the next 25 years”. Incentivizing clean energy production in this manner is a great way for Nevada to encourage the development and construction of new sustainable plants.
The following three sources are the basis for my analysis of this project:
Las Vegas Review Journal:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/energy/developer-huge-solar-array-near-tonopah-wants-build-10-more
Eco Watch:
http://www.ecowatch.com/worlds-largest-solar-project-nevada-2041546638.html
SolarReserve Project Page:
http://www.solarreserve.com/en/global-projects/csp/sandstone-energy-10x
SolarReserve’s facility has integrated energy storage, a feature that is imperative for the shift to a sustainable electric grid. This new facility uses a huge mirror array to concentrate the sun’s energy and melt a mixture of salts. The molten salt is stored at 566ºC for use whenever needed. The stored heat is used to vaporize water and power generators. I think this technology has the potential to fill an important gap that photovoltaics cannot fill: energy on demand. While photovoltaics will only produce energy during the daytime, this solar thermal plant can store heat energy for conversion and use at night. This technology can help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels currently used to produce this needed on-demand energy. This makes this technology much more worthwhile from an investment standpoint, and gives this energy an advantage in reaching grid parity.
The environmental impact of this plant will be quite low. The Las Vegas Review Journal claims that the plant will have a low impact of wildlife, stating that at the already built utility scale Nevada facility, “the full-time biologists on site have logged around 60 bird deaths over the past year”. For a facility of this size, the author claims that this is a very small number. I agree; I believe that in a plant this size, a small number of animal deaths is to be expected. The plant uses a nontoxic mix of salts as a heat transfer and storage liquid. The salt is within a closed system, and, according to SolarReserve, does not need to be replaced or refilled throughout the lifetime of the plant. Furthermore, the mirrors used in the plant are on heliostats and can tilt to reflect the light from the sun directly onto the tower receiver. This optimized the energy collection throughout the day as the sun’s angle changes.
Construction and operation of this plant will have several economic facets. The plant is set to create upwards of 3000 jobs in Nevada during construction. It will take a large, diverse team to set up and maintain this plant. This will likely have a positive impact on Nevada’s economy and job market. Per the Las Vegas Review journal, “NV Energy agreed to buy that plant’s entire output at 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour — roughly twice the cost of power from a natural gas-fueled plant — for the next 25 years”. Incentivizing clean energy production in this manner is a great way for Nevada to encourage the development and construction of new sustainable plants.
The following three sources are the basis for my analysis of this project:
Las Vegas Review Journal:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/energy/developer-huge-solar-array-near-tonopah-wants-build-10-more
Eco Watch:
http://www.ecowatch.com/worlds-largest-solar-project-nevada-2041546638.html
SolarReserve Project Page:
http://www.solarreserve.com/en/global-projects/csp/sandstone-energy-10x