Cloncurry solar power station

A solar thermal power station is to be built in Cloncurry, in north-west Queensland. The solar thermal power station will have a capacity of 10-megawatt and will deliver about 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to power the whole town. [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22700605-2702,00.html Cloncurry to run on solar power: Bligh] ]

Project

The total cost of the project is A$31 million including a A$7 million gift from the government [ [http://www.lloydenergy.com/presentations/Cloncurry%20Solar%20Thermal%20Storage%20Project.pdf Cloncurry Solar Thermal Project] ] . The plant should be running by early 2010. [http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD226477 Australian town to run on solar power in 2 years] ]

Novelty in heat storage

The design is a common solar power tower design. An array of motorized heliostat mirrors reflects sunlight to the summit of a tower. The summit houses a receiver, which is heated by the concentrated sunlight. A total of 54 towers of 18m (59 ft) high will be constructed.

A novelty in this power plant is that heat is stored. An important advantage of
solar thermal energy is the possibility of storing heat for later use. In this way, the plant can also produce electricity at night or on overcast days Fact|date=April 2008. A common method is the storage of molten nitrate salt in large tanks; this is the technology used in Solar Tres Power Tower.

The Cloncurry plant uses the new technology of heat storage in blocks of purified graphite. The blocks are placed on top of the tower. The concentrated light on the receivers of the towers is directly transported to these blocks. The heat for electricity production is drawn from the blocks (ie, there is no direct heat transport from the receiver).

ee also

*List of solar thermal power stations
*Solar power tower
*Solar thermal energy

References