Saturday, July 28, 2007

Of all the solar energy production, I simply love this project. It is so possible.


The 'heat exchange' of solar heat through a superhot vegetable oil pipeline. No danger of any kind to workers, either. As least as long as the 800 degree F oil stays inside the tubes. But, there is no toxic anything here.

Recently, a brand new "Solar Parabolic Trough" power plant was officially opened near Tucson, Arizona. The plant consists of six rows of parabolic mirrors that track the sun as it moves across the sky. The mirrors concentrate the sunlight on steel tubes coated with an absorption material to keep the heat from dissipating. Mineral oil flowing inside the tubes is heated to about 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
The hot oil then is circulated through a heat exchanger, where it heats a second fluid that vaporizes to produce steam to spin an electric turbine. The plant actually became operational in December 2005 and provides power for 200 households. It was built by Solargenix, a solar energy development company based in North Carolina.





The 'organization' of the facility. It can probably be made more efficient which will also capture increased heat production.