Concentrating Solar Power #
February 25th, 2008 | In Worth Knowing
I’ve seen many references to new ways of making solar power more efficient recently, The Economist’s article is the only one I bookmarked.
As their name suggests, CSP plants generate electricity by concentrating the sun’s rays, usually to boil water. The resulting steam drives turbines similar to those found at power plants that run on coal or natural gas. There are several different designs. The Nevada plant uses long curved mirrors, called parabolic troughs, to focus light on a tube of fluid running just above them. The Spanish plant uses a forest of smaller mirrors to focus light on a tower in their midst. Other concepts involve long flat mirrors and devices resembling satellite dishes.