<Uh Oh...The Oil DrumA Discussion with Governor Brian Schweitzer>

44 comments on And who is that, riding to the rescue?

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TJ on October 17, 2005 - 9:02pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
It does work.  It's been done somewhere in California on a small scale, IIRC.  It's not done more because the initial investment is high.
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stalkylittleboy on October 17, 2005 - 9:11pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I don't understand why the initial investment should be so high.  Conversion of heat to electricity is a mature technology, and aimable mirrors don't seem very expensive.
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TJ on October 17, 2005 - 9:27pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The higher the steam temperature the better your thermal efficiency for your generating cycle.  It takes a lot of mirrors to get high temperatures.
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robertmcleod on October 17, 2005 - 9:46pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Mirrors are expensive actually.  They are basically a pane of  glass with an aluminium coating and an anti-reflective coating on top of that.  The electrical actuators used to track the sun are also expensive.  Futhermore, mirrors don't work when it's cloudy.  That limits concentrating systems to locations like the Sonata and Sahara deserts.  Concentrators can be highly effective in those high insolation environments.

Photovoltaics have no moving parts so they don't require much maintenance.  You just have to hose off the bird droppings every once and a while.  

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Joseph Somsel on October 18, 2005 - 11:24am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I interviewed for a job as startup engineer on the "Power Tower" in the Mohave Desert run by Southern California Edison back in the late '70s.

What a loser!  I declined as the performance was so marginal. It's still there - you can see it from the freeway or if you take Amtrak's Southwest Chief:
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Horizontal_Route_Page&c=am2 Route&cid=1081442673827&ssid=132

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