While the world is still trying to figure out how solar power works, a new type of green energy technology has caught the attention of investors and entrepreneurs. The system uses cheap air as fuel heaters that can turn any home into an efficient greenhouse in minutes.
The “heliogen” is a new type of solar power that uses the sun’s heat to create electricity. This technology has captured the attention of many people and companies around the world.
When you think of solar energy, you generally think of photovoltaic panels, which collect sunlight and convert it to electricity. There are, however, alternative methods to harvest the sun’s energy. Concentrated solar-thermal power, or CSP, is one way that is gaining popularity. CSP employs mirrors to reflect and concentrate the sun’s energy.
In comparison to other renewable energy sources, CSP has been hampered by technological obstacles, a lack of finance, and government incentives. However, as the urgency of replacing fossil fuels grows, so does demand for carbon-free energy, and a number of increasingly well-funded organizations are attempting to enhance the technology. CSP systems, according to proponents, create more heat and have more storage capacity than other renewables, making them better for producing grid-scale energy and feeding diverse industrial processes.
So, how does it function? CSP employs heliostats to concentrate sunlight on receivers loaded with one of many liquid or solid materials, rather than photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly into energy. Thermal energy is created when sunlight warms the substance to very high temperatures.
Another Method of Catching Rays
Using mirrors to focus the sun’s beams and trapping their heat to make electricity, concentrated solar-thermal power harnesses the sun’s energy without the need of photovoltaic panels. One system’s operation:
The sun’s rays strike the mirror trough system and are reflected in all directions onto a fluid-filled linear pipe (sometimes molten salt or oil).
The concentrated beams of the sun heat the fluid within the pipe. This fluid is then transported through a heat exchanger, where the heat from the fluid is transferred to water, resulting in steam.
Steam generates power by turning a turbine in a generator. This might result in a power output of 250 megawatts or more, enough to power 90,000 houses. The steam is then condensed and cooled, with the water being collected and reused.
Heated fluid may also be stored and utilized when the sun isn’t shining to generate energy on demand.
a glass of a glass of a glass of a glass of cool water
re-useable returns
The sun’s rays strike the mirror trough system and are reflected in all directions onto a fluid-filled linear pipe (sometimes molten salt or oil).
The concentrated beams of the sun heat the fluid within the pipe. This fluid is then transported through a heat exchanger, where the heat from the fluid is transferred to water, resulting in steam.
Steam generates power by turning a turbine in a generator. This might result in a power output of 250 megawatts or more, enough to power 90,000 houses. The steam is then condensed and cooled, with the water being collected and reused.
Heated fluid may also be stored and utilized when the sun isn’t shining to generate energy on demand.
a glass of a glass of a glass of a glass of cool water
re-useable returns
The sun’s rays strike the mirror trough system and are reflected in all directions onto a fluid-filled linear pipe (sometimes molten salt or oil).
The concentrated beams of the sun heat the fluid within the pipe. This fluid is then transported through a heat exchanger, where the heat from the fluid is transferred to water, resulting in steam.
Steam generates power by turning a turbine in a generator. This might result in a power output of 250 megawatts or more, enough to power 90,000 houses. The steam is then condensed and cooled, with the water being collected and reused.
Heated fluid may also be stored and utilized when the sun isn’t shining to generate energy on demand.
a glass of a glass of a glass of a glass of cool water
re-useable returns
a glass of a glass of a glass of a glass of cool water
re-useable returns
The sun’s rays strike the mirror trough system and are reflected in all directions onto a fluid-filled linear pipe (sometimes molten salt or oil).
The concentrated beams of the sun heat the fluid within the pipe. This fluid is then transported through a heat exchanger, where the heat from the fluid is transferred to water, resulting in steam.
Steam generates power by turning a turbine in a generator. This might result in a power output of 250 megawatts or more, enough to power 90,000 houses. The steam is then condensed and cooled, with the water being collected and reused.
Heated fluid may also be stored and utilized when the sun isn’t shining to generate energy on demand.
Storage that is kept warm
The superheated material may be used to create steam, which can be utilized to spin a turbine or power an engine to generate energy. The benefit of CSP for this use is that most CSP systems can store enough heat to create six to twelve hours of electricity on demand for later use, compared to three or four hours for solar systems’ lithium batteries.
CSP may also be utilized in a range of industrial operations that demand a lot of heat, such steel manufacture, concrete production, and chemical synthesis. This method of using CSP heat is more efficient than transferring electricity from solar panels to heat, and it is also cleaner than burning fossil fuels to generate heat.
Companies are increasingly looking towards CSP as a means to cut emissions, according to Guangdong Zhu, a senior researcher at the federally sponsored National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Concentrating Solar Power and Geothermal Technology programs. It’s possible that the environmental effect will be considerable. According to Dr. Zhu, “industry heat accounts for 20% to 25% of overall energy consumption” of all types.
Dr. Zhu believes that CSP will eventually augment rather than replace photovoltaic solar energy. “If we want to decarbonize the system with 100 percent renewable energy, we’ll need everything,” he argues.
There is still a long way to go.
CSP’s contribution to global energy supply is currently negligible. According to Benjamin Attia, a lead research analyst in the energy transition business at Wood Mackenzie, an energy research and consultancy organization, the world’s CSP capacity is about six gigawatts, with little over two gigawatts in the United States. Photovoltaic solar power, on the other hand, just surpassed one terawatt, or 1,000 gigawatts, of capacity.
Part of the reason for the difference is due to technical difficulties. One of them is that converting heat to energy is more costly and inefficient than using photovoltaics. CSP systems also need a lot of water, which is a concern since they work best in deserts or other water-scarce places to optimize solar exposure. Mr. Attia believes that modern technology has the potential to reduce prices and make CSP more efficient, but that there has yet to be a breakthrough. “In the field, we haven’t seen any commissioned next-generation CSP equipment,” he adds.
A fresh influx of funding and research might help to alter that. HelioCon, a coalition of business and government institutions, academics, and CSP professionals founded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Energy Department in December to produce cheaper, more efficient heliostats, is one of the research endeavors.
Simultaneously, researchers at the University of Barcelona are striving to identify a material that can be heated to a greater temperature and produces more power. Ana Ines Fernandez, a professor at the University of Barcelona’s department of materials science and physical chemistry, believes that finding a material that isn’t scarce, costly, or hazardous is also critical. This may assist CSP in avoiding the issue that lithium batteries have: The batteries depend on rare-earth metals, which are in great demand and have significant labor difficulties.
Dr. Fernandez explains, “We want to seek for not just the lowest but also the most sustainable options.”
Projects in the works
Several initiatives are looking into how CSP might be used for purposes beyond than energy production. Synhelion SA, a spinoff from the Swiss Institute of Technology, proposes to create carbon-neutral kerosene for aviation fuel using CSP.
Water is divided into hydrogen and oxygen, and then the hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide to produce carbon-neutral kerosene. According to Philipp Furler, the company’s chief executive and founder, Synhelion plans to use heat from CSP to generate the energy needed to produce the fuel, with the goal of producing 700,000 tons of carbon-neutral kerosene per year by 2030, which would be the equivalent of about half of Switzerland’s jet-fuel consumption.
This procedure benefits from CSP. It is more efficient than producing heat using electricity. In addition, a CSP system uses less land to generate the same amount of electricity as a photovoltaic system. CSP’s storage capacity also ensures that electricity is available at all times.
Hyperlight Energy, for example, intends to employ CSP to lower the carbon impact of oil drilling. Natural gas is burnt in certain oil wells to produce steam, which is pushed into the earth to assist press the oil to the surface. Hyperlight intends to construct a prototype CSP plant near an oil well to serve two purposes: the heat generated by the plant can be injected underground to help drive oil to the surface, and the heat is efficiently stored below the surface, where it may be used to generate power.
AI has a role to play
Another breakthrough implies that artificial intelligence might help CSP compete more effectively. Heliogen Inc., HLGN -7.54 percent, a Bill Gates-backed CSP business, utilizes computer vision to watch the sun and adjust the mirrors in a CSP plant to optimum sunlight concentration. This reduces the complexity of constructing a CSP system, lowering construction costs. Mirrors must be methodically positioned in the finest feasible location in contemporary systems. Even then, according to Bill Gross, Heliogen’s CEO and creator, the earth might move and cease focusing the sunlight as efficiently.
“This wouldn’t function without AI,” Mr. Gross explains. “Computer vision is the technological advance that allows us to do this.”
The business is also emulating the solar-panel industry by producing mirrors in a single standard size. Previously, CSP plant mirrors were all custom-designed and constructed for each installation. Mr. Gross claims that “mass production” can lower prices.
Mr. Gross, like Dr. Zhu, views CSP as a supplement to photovoltaic solar energy rather than a substitute. “There are locations where PV will prevail,” he continues, “but we will never be on your rooftop.” “In the decarbonizing industry, CSP wins.”
Ms. Snow is a Los Angeles-based writer. [email protected] is her email address.
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The “heliostat vs solar panel” is a debate that has been going on for some time. The heliostat uses mirrors to reflect sunlight, which is then used to power the home or business. Solar panels are more efficient and cheaper than heliostats but they require installation of large panels and can only be installed in certain places.
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