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Reuters news MIT's research team invented a low-cost solar power system that can power day and night. The system is divided into two parts, a concentrating solar power system and a molten salt heat storage system. This research is not the first marriage of these two technologies, but it is committed to reducing the cost of installation, operation and maintenance of the system. If the study proves to be feasible, small towns and communities will be able to use stable and clean power without relying on the grid.
Concentrating solar power and molten salt energy storage systems
Concentrating solar power mainly uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight on the central tower. In the conventional sense, the combination of concentrating solar power generation and molten salt energy storage uses solar energy to heat molten salt, and then heat energy to heat water to generate steam, and the power generation unit generates electricity through steam. However, if there is no storage device, this system cannot supply stable power.
New combination of solar energy and molten salt
The MIT team solved the cost problem by replacing the central tower with a ground tank. Because it does not require the use of drainage pipes and related equipment, the cost of equipment installation and maintenance is reduced. Unlike traditional designs that use mirrors to focus the sunlight upwards on the tower, the mirrors can be mounted above the tank, which concentrates the sunlight down to the narrow opening at the top of the tank. This method can reach a high temperature of 500 degrees Celsius. The water tank can also be used for energy storage: the use of a self-regulating floating baffle separates the heated molten salt from the cooled molten salt during the day.
Solar power generation as cheap as fossil fuels
The MIT research team predicts that in the best case scenario, the system's power generation cost will be approximately 70 cents per kilowatt-hour. At present, they have conducted small-scale tests using sodium potassium nitrate, and the next step will be to establish large-scale demonstration projects. This project is expected to take place in New Mexico, California. (Translated by Veronica)
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