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SolarReserve has received a conditional commitment for a $737 million loan guarantee from DoE to build a 110 MW 24 hour a day solar thermal plant in Tonopah, NV. Solar thermal creates power by using heliostats to focus the sun at a central receiver and stores energy for future use in molten salt. Thus, this [...] This Swiss chalet style apartment building produces twice as much heat than it needs via the solar thermal panels on the roof. Heat from the sun is stored in hot water which is used by resdients and which heats the building through under floor piping. And it does all this in Switzerland in the [...] The plant focuses heat from the sun onto water filled tubes to create steam to drive turbines. After Gutenberg and NY Times have more. The Turkish company, Solimpeks Corp., has launched its Volther hybrid photovoltaic-solar thermal collector, which produces electricity and hot water simultaneously. The hybrid system allows extra module heat to be absorbed to produce hot water while optimising efficiency, the company says. It’s just 10MW now and the power is expensive. But it’s basically a prototype. Presumably prices for solar thermal will drop as the technology improves and economies of scale take effect. Solar Thermal captures heat from the sun to create power. The heat can also be stored and used later. R&D now is focusing on computer-controlled reflector mirrors and more efficient ways to store the heat. More from Ecogeek. This test project by Sopogy will hopefully be the first of many as Hawaii continues to be leader in renewable energy. The 2 Megawatt thermal energy project which spans across 3.8 acres in the hot Kona desert utilizes 1,000 Sopogy proprietary MicroCSP solar panels. Through the use of mirrors and optics and an integrated [...] Google, a huge user of electricity, wants to drop the price of solar thermal. So, they’re doing it themselves by researching ways to make the mirrors less expensive and by using solar to power gas turbines rather than using natural gas. Photo. eSolar Two-year-old eSolar is having an opening ceremony for its pilot solar power plant in Lancaster, Calif., on Wednesday [today]. There’s a veritable glut of solar start-ups, but eSolar has already gotten further than most: it’s actually producing electricity at below the price consumers pay in California. Their solar thermal plant uses “more [...] |  | ||||
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