– These technologies are out there. We just need the political will to implement and use them.
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by Dr. Gerry Wolff
 Close up view of parabolic trough and heat collector. |
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is the remarkably simple technique of arranging mirrors to concentrate sunlight and using the resulting heat to raise steam to drive turbines and generators, just like a conventional power station. CSP works best where there is direct sunshine and lots of it, as in deserts.Solar heat may be stored in melted salts (e.g. nitrates of sodium or potassium) so that electricity generation may continue at night or on cloudy days. And gas or biofuels may be used as a stop-gap source of heat when there is not enough sun. With facilities for storing solar heat and hybridisation with other sources of heat, CSP can provide any combination of base load power, intermediate load or peaking power. This is a great advantage for power engineers trying to match supplies of electricity to demands for electricity which are constantly varying.
The potential
CSP plants have been supplying electricity in California since the mid 1980s, new plants came on stream recently in Spain and Nevada, and others are now being planned or built in many places around the world.
The potential is enormous. Every year, each square kilometre of desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire current energy consumption of the world. It has been calculated that less than 1 per cent of the world’s deserts, if covered with CSP plants, would produce as much electricity as is now used by the whole world.
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