New Chinese solar power plant worth $430 million

 today solar energy is the most promising

area for generating electricity

the only serious drawback is the

inability to operate solar power plants

at night and while scientists from all

over the world are looking for

innovative ways to solve this issue the

xiaohang chinese company has found an

original way out

the new solar power plant worth 430

million dollars with a capacity of 100

megawatt power operates around the clock

without power losses but how exactly

were they able to achieve this

french designers in 1968 completed the

construction of the odelia solar oven

the largest complex at that time

located in the south of france the

complex consists of a large mirror 54

meters high and 48 meters wide mirrors

placed around it capture sunlight and

redirect it to a mirror which

concentrates them on the tower

at that time scientists were able to

raise the temperature in the tower to 3

500 degrees celsius in just a few

seconds

however at that time the solar complex

was conceived as a scientific project to

study the sun and not a station for

obtaining cheap electricity the chinese

company decided that it was high time to

rethink the experience of french

construction and place it on a

commercial basis

the xiaohang ihw resources saving dun

huang phase 2 project was originally

conceived as a national demonstration

project to look at the development of

solar energy from a different angle

today the installation of photovoltaic

panels is very popular in the world with

the help of which the sun's rays are

directly converted into electricity

however their efficiency is relatively

low

advanced technologies barely reach an

efficiency of 50

wasting the other half of the potential

solar energy in vain

therefore scientists and engineers from

a chinese company decided to bet on the

other less developed side of solar

energy

they decided to try to get electricity

not directly but more traditionally

through heating the coolant

their work resulted in the world's

tallest technology tower

to create it they had to spend several

years on research incorrect selection of

building materials ignoring the

temperature difference at altitude and

general weather conditions could drop

the building just a few hours after

installation

at 260 meters high the tower acts as a

solar oven concentrating the sun's rays

on itself for more than 10 000

heliostats

this allows for temperatures to rise

from 500 to 1000 degrees celsius in just

a few seconds

there is molten salt inside the tower

which when heated goes into special

storage

there it heats the water to steam which

turns the generator to generate

electricity

the advantage of molten salt is that it

cools down for a long time thereby

allowing water to turn into steam even

at night

a new chinese solar power plant can hold

the desired degree of heat for up to 11

hours

this allows the population to be

supplied with electricity even at night

and the smart movement system of the

concentrators allows to change the angle

of the mirrors thereby allowing for

constant maintenance of the high heating

efficiency of the solar oven throughout

the day

the new power plant covers an area of 8

million square meters of which the

mirror area accounts for only 1.4

million

for comparison the area of a nuclear

power plant is about 16 million square

meters thus the station is compact

enough to place it

and if we consider that the station does

not require waste disposal is

environmentally friendly and safe for

the population

then this is one of the best options for

replacing traditional chp combined heat

and power plant and nuclear power plants

on fossil resources

according to the company the power plant

can be located even in northern

latitudes where both the amount and

intensity of sunlight are lower

and with a capacity of 100 megawatt

power which annually produces 390

million kilowatt hours we'll provide the

population with cheap electricity around

the clock

design is another hallmark of the new

chinese power plant

take a look at how awesome the power

plant looks from a bird's eye view

the speed of construction is also

amazing from the moment the foundation

was poured for the tower up until the

time it was included in the general

energy network it took only a year and a

half

although we recall that before the start

of construction several years were spent

on research

in general the benefits of such power

plants are undeniable

first of all it is a solution to the

age-old problem of generating solar

electricity at night

secondly it is a powerful and fairly

cheap source of electricity

thirdly this station allows to save

fossil fuels equivalent to 667 hectares

of forest annually

the company emphasizes that it is ready

to accept applications for the

construction of such structures around

the globe providing both individual

technological solutions and full-fledged

construction services from scratch

until recently concentrated solar power

or csp technologies were losing

popularity and investment growth to

photovoltaic panels

however recently along with a

technological barrier to the growth of

the efficiency of solar panels and the

complexity of disposal

the interest of businessmen began to

grow in the other direction

indeed in addition to generating

electricity for industry and the

population csp also provides the much

needed thermal factor for heating in

winter carrying out chemical reactions

in factories and for the production of

certain types of goods

being more environmentally friendly and

not requiring a major recycling

procedure csp technology may be the very

cherished dream of mankind to create

absolute clean and efficient energy

and who knows maybe it is this technology that can save humanity from

global climate change what do you think about this please

don't forget to write your opinion in the comments below take care