From Raw Story. Excerpts:
A unique thermosolar power station in southern Spain can shrug off cloudy days: energy stored when the sun shines lets it produce electricity even during the night.
..
“It is the first station in the world that works 24 hours a day, a solar power station that works day and night!” said Santago Arias, technical director of Torresol Energy, which runs the station.
The mechanism is “very easy to explain,” he said: the panels reflect the suns rays on to the tower, transmitting energy at an intensity 1,000 times higher than that of the sun’s rays reaching the earth.
Energy is stored in a vat filled with molten salts at a temperature of more than 500 degrees C (930 F). Those salts are used to produce steam to turn the turbines and produce electricity.
It is the station’s capacity to store energy that makes Gemasolar so different because it allows the plant to transmit power during the night, relying on energy it has accumulated during the day.
..
As a result, the plant produces 60 percent more energy than a station without storage capacity because it can work 6,400 hours a year compared to 1,200-2,000 hours for other solar power stations, he said.
“The amount of energy we produce a year is equal to the consumption of 30,000 Spanish households,” Arias said, an annual saving of 30,000 tonnes of CO2.
Helped by generous state aid, renewable energies have enjoyed a boom in Spain, the world number two in solar energy and the biggest wind power producer in Europe, ahead of Germany.
Readers in the comment section had some great tidbits to add, including possible solar satellites beaming energy down to power stations, solar's capability to create energy without carbon dioxide, and while still not as powerful as nuclear plants, solar plants are as much as one-fortieth the cost and no nuclear waste. What a fucking concept. My favorite (partial but Right On)post and dumbass response:
And all the oiltards laffed. HAR HAR HAR! That peanut farmer don't know nuthin'! OIL is KING! Turns out, they were wrong, he was right, and we're all fucked.
And why don't any of the progressive pundits ever bring this up? Say it loud and proud: Jimmy Carter was fucking RIGHT!
A unique thermosolar power station in southern Spain can shrug off cloudy days: energy stored when the sun shines lets it produce electricity even during the night.
..
“It is the first station in the world that works 24 hours a day, a solar power station that works day and night!” said Santago Arias, technical director of Torresol Energy, which runs the station.
The mechanism is “very easy to explain,” he said: the panels reflect the suns rays on to the tower, transmitting energy at an intensity 1,000 times higher than that of the sun’s rays reaching the earth.
Energy is stored in a vat filled with molten salts at a temperature of more than 500 degrees C (930 F). Those salts are used to produce steam to turn the turbines and produce electricity.
It is the station’s capacity to store energy that makes Gemasolar so different because it allows the plant to transmit power during the night, relying on energy it has accumulated during the day.
..
As a result, the plant produces 60 percent more energy than a station without storage capacity because it can work 6,400 hours a year compared to 1,200-2,000 hours for other solar power stations, he said.
“The amount of energy we produce a year is equal to the consumption of 30,000 Spanish households,” Arias said, an annual saving of 30,000 tonnes of CO2.
Helped by generous state aid, renewable energies have enjoyed a boom in Spain, the world number two in solar energy and the biggest wind power producer in Europe, ahead of Germany.
Readers in the comment section had some great tidbits to add, including possible solar satellites beaming energy down to power stations, solar's capability to create energy without carbon dioxide, and while still not as powerful as nuclear plants, solar plants are as much as one-fortieth the cost and no nuclear waste. What a fucking concept. My favorite (partial but Right On)post and dumbass response:
Gee, imagine where we might be today had America listened to the peanut farmer physicist who said we have to start now (late 70's), to avoid all the BS going on today with big energy and pollution and wars. BUT, NOOOoooooo!, Americans had to have an actor king, with a James Watt 'jehovah witness' anything goes for profit when it comes to natural resources because there is no tomorrow, in the White House.Actually, it was Jimmy Carter. Crazy old Jimmy Carter. We could have had solar collectors on all new buildings after say.. 1978. Yeah, solar collectors sucked in the 70's and 80's, but with 30 years of hardcore Research and Development, we would have prevented the endless loop of Resource Wars the 21st Century will surely hold.
..
George Washington Carver, just thought it was appropriate to write his proper name. For he was such an extraordinary man!
And all the oiltards laffed. HAR HAR HAR! That peanut farmer don't know nuthin'! OIL is KING! Turns out, they were wrong, he was right, and we're all fucked.
And why don't any of the progressive pundits ever bring this up? Say it loud and proud: Jimmy Carter was fucking RIGHT!
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