Saturday, May 2, 2009

Gemasolar 17MW Power Tower with 16 hour heat storage

Torresol Energy Logo

Torresol Energy a collaboration of Sener, the Spanish Engineering Group, and the Masdar Initiative in Abu Dhabi is building Gemasolar a 17MW power tower solar thermal plant in Fuentes de Andalucia, just to the East of Seville, Spain

Gemasolar will be built so that it can run autonomously for 16 hours without any sunlight, effectively having an annual capacity factor 74% or 3 times that of a conventional power tower with no aftehours storage.

The system will directly heat a mixture of Potassium and Nitrate salts which then go through a heat exchanger to produce steam. This allows steam to be produced from the salt storage anytime day or night.

Gemasolar Solar Tres will consist of 2493 glass-metal heliostats (96m squared) with higher-reflectivity glass than what was used on a prototype in California named Solar Two that it is based on. Because of simplified design 45% reduction in manufacturing costs. It will consist of a thermal energy storage system, storing 6,250 T of molten nitrate salt (16 hours, 600 MWh). Add to this new advanced pump designs that will pump salt directly from the storage tanks, eliminating the need for pump sumps.

It will also consist of a steam generator system that will have a forced-recirculation steam drum. A more efficient, higher-pressure reheat turbine, and a simplified molten-salt flow loop that reduces by 50% compared to Solar Two California the number of valves.

Torresol Drawing

Torresol Drawing

 

Solar Reserve Inc Power Tower with Storage developer
Solar Reserve Inc Power Tower with Storage developer Diagram Schematic


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