World’s First Dual-Tower Solar Plant Boosts Efficiency by 24%

In China’s Gansu Province, engineers have erected two towers standing at 650 feet (200 meters) tall. Alongside them, an array of 30,000 mirrors arranged in concentric circles will generate more than 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

While photovoltaic panels, which directly convert sunlight into electricity, commonly associate with “solar power,” another method has been steadily advancing since the early 1980s.

Known as solar thermal or concentrated solar power (CSP), these systems use mirrors called heliostats to reflect sunlight to a central receiver. At this receiver, the concentrated sunlight heats a transfer fluid, which then heats a working fluid. This heated fluid vaporizes, drives a turbine, and generates electricity.

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

In 2014, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System opened in the Mojave Desert, becoming the world’s largest solar thermal power station at the time. Consisting of three towers surrounded by heliostat arrays, it boasts a capacity of 392 megawatts.

Australia announced plans in 2017 for the world’s largest single-tower solar thermal plant, aiming for 150 megawatts, but canceled the project in 2019. Currently, the largest CSP facility is the Noor Complex Solar Power Plant in Morocco’s Sahara Desert, generating 510 megawatts annually.

Recently, China’s Three Gorges Group revealed advancements in CSP, as reported by China Global Television Network (CGTN). Their Ghazhou solar thermal energy storage project will feature two towers sharing a steam turbine.

Unlike the US setup with separate heliostat fields for each tower, the Chinese project uses mirrors arranged in overlapping concentric circles.

These mirrors track the sun’s path to reflect light efficiently to either tower, enhancing CSP efficiency by an estimated 24%, according to project manager Wen Jianghong. With a 94% reflection efficiency, the mirrors ensure that most solar energy is redirected to the power-producing towers.

Molten Salt Technology and Integration with Renewable Energy Sources

The new plant, nearing 90% completion and expected to go online later this year, incorporates molten salt technology for heat storage during the day, releasing it at night to maintain power generation.

Integrated with surrounding photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, the CSP system aims to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.53 million tons annually as part of a broader effort to provide clean energy.

For more insights, you can watch CGTN’s video showcasing the plant’s operations.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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