Thursday, May 3, 2007

Electricity Kissed By The Sun-Solar Thermal Energy Plant

Thanks to Gary from the war front to close Vermont Yankee in Brattleboro for this story lead from the UK. Electric energy completely CO2 emissions free, electrons produced from the sun in a facilty that almost resembles a modern day 40 story tall church spire...can someone give us and AMEN!

In this first of its kind pilot plant, mirrors relect incoming sun beams to a boiler that heats water to steam that turns turbines to create electrons.

Power station harnesses Sun's rays
By David Shukman
Science correspondent, BBC News, Seville

There is a scene in one of the Austin Powers films where Dr Evil unleashes a giant "tractor beam" of energy at Earth in order to extract a massive payment.

Well, the memory of it kept me chuckling as I toured the extraordinary scene of the new solar thermal power plant outside Seville in southern Spain.

From a distance, as we rounded a bend and first caught sight of it, I couldn't believe the strange structure ahead of me was actually real.

A concrete tower - 40 storeys high - stood bathed in intense white light, a totally bizarre image in the depths of the Andalusian countryside.

The tower looked like it was being hosed with giant sprays of water or was somehow being squirted with jets of pale gas. I had trouble working it out.

In fact, as we found out when we got closer, the rays of sunlight reflected by a field of 600 huge mirrors are so intense they illuminate the water vapour and dust hanging in the air.

The effect is to give the whole place a glow - even an aura - and if you're concerned about climate change that may well be deserved.

Read rest of story here. How it works.

1 comment:

Gerry Wolff said...

Further information about concentrating solar power (CSP) may be found at:

http://www.trecers.net/index.html

and

http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/index.htm