CSP promises

Sometimes problems have simple solutions that do not need new rocket science tech! It is simply about assemblage and simplification of known elements.

Researchers at MIT are designing a new method of building concentrating solar power plants with thermal storage that they say could lower the cost of energy by 50% compared with existing technologies. MIT Mechanical Engineering Professor Alexander Slocum – along with a group of other researchers – says he’s designed a new type of tank for molten salt storage that could reduce equipment needs, increase durability and ultimately reduce the cost of electricity being generated by a plant.

Rather than use a complicated plumbing infrastructure to heat and pump the molten salt for storage, Slocum’s design puts the salt storage and water heating in a single tank mounted on the ground, rather than on a tower far above the field of mirrors. Under the new design, the mirrors are actually mounted on a hillside above the storage tank and reflect sunlight down into a small opening in the top.

Not only does the design ensure minimum parts but is also more durable as it avoids extreme swings in temperature on the system (to avoid which systems are usually oversized).

The use of storage like molten salt will be key to the success of the industry, experts say. To make real progress with deploying these technologies, you need to have the dispatchable characteristics like firm power. CSP is different from PV and can provide power at twilight, so to say!