The guys over at ZDNet were at the opening of CSIRO’s latest solar power project, a 30 metre high tower surrounded by 450 mirrors that concentrate the suns energy on the tower, heating it up and spinning a turbine to create electricity. It looks awesome.
The facility is part of a research station developing and commercialising the solar tower technology internationally. On days when the sun doesn’t create a high enough temperature to spin the turbine, backup natural gas can ensure the power doesn’t drop off.
The pics on the ZDNet page look amazing, although cleaning all those mirrors would be a real pain in the backside, don’t you think?
[ZDNet]
DarthDVD
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3:15 PMgod it looks like a land based Ion cannon…. instead of a sola power station
JAKE
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3:16 PMahh let’s hope they don’t open it up to the public so fingerprints don’t become an issue
Martin
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3:17 PMpersonally I think these and wind farms are the way of power for the future. what pisses me off though is that when technology like this is planned to be built and commissioned, people complain of what an eye sore all this stuff is yet they still want renewable power solutions.
Namarrgon
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 4:21 PMTell them to go look at a coal-fired power station some time, if they’re concerned about eyesores.
ozoneocean
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 5:07 PMExactly what I was thinking! Yeah… those massive chimneys belching smoke are so much prettier than a bunch of wind turbines… Those people are idiots. Or Tony Abbot, which is much the same thing.
codework
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 12:22 PMI agree with you regarding solar arrays (although I’d like to see if there are any downsides), wind farms not so much. With the way they are promoted they’d have us believe that wind turbines are innocuous silent spinning giants – which they definitely are not. They have major effects on the air around them, and in Australia actual yield is pretty low compared with potential. Better design moving forward may solve some of the issues, but for now Wind turbines anywhere near people or animals is a bad idea.
Andreas
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3:50 PMReminds me of when Mythbusters did the test of the Archimedes death ray. Trying to do this sort of thing with humans didn’t work, seems to work well with computer controlled mirrors though.
How hot does that one section get with all that focused light?
Namarrgon
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 4:27 PMLink says “nearly 1000 degrees Celsius”.
Seems to me, with 450 mirrors each around 1.5 square metres, you could get up to 600 kW of energy focused on the heating element, on a sunny summer day (though the planned turbine is only 200 kW).
Daniel H
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 4:23 PMAndreas, if you watch the other video on ZDnet, it explains that one section gets upto 1000 degrees Celsius. http://www.zdnet.com.au/csiro-newcastle-solar-tower-opens-pics_p3-339317052.htm#vp
Tania
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 7:27 PMThe CSIRO solar blog has more images and info: csirosolarblog.com
Hooked on coal
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 9:20 PMHey I want one to drive my 60inch plasma, 5 computers, stereo subs, multiple heaters, leafblower, a/c etc. Point the thing this way hahaha!
CAL
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 11:55 PMThat. Looks. Awesome.