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SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS ENGINEERING
Advanced
courses and specialized training that aims to deepen in the Engineering
of Solar Thermal Power Plants, from Construction to Operation.
We offer the following courses to be conducted individually, of 13 hours each:
The Solar Energy is not something new; it was used for many centuries
ago. But it was replaced for curde oil in the Industrial Revolution.
Currently
due to high crude oil costs and its major environmental impact, has
decided to return to the use of solar energy. If crude oil did not
exist, now we would have more technology about renewable energy.
There
are a lot of kinds of Solar Energy; probably the most popular is the
photovoltaic energy which is a way to obtain electrical energy by
photovoltaic panels. But there are another ways to obtain electrical
energy by solar light and probably with better results.
One
example is the Solar Thermal Energy, which transforms the Solar Energy
into Electric Energy. The Solar Thermal Power Plants work by a
thermodynamic cycle, which consists of a set of mirrors (heliostats);
located on land and property oriented to reflect sunlight that strikes
them, all this radiation is delivered to a receiver so all the energy
is transported at the same time.
History of Photovoltaic Solar Energy
In
1893, Edmond Becquerel (French physicist) discovered the photovoltaic
effect, noted that some materials transforms the light into electric
current.
In
1887, through several experiments, Heinrich Hertz was able to
produce photovoltaic cells which process light into electricity.
Albert Einstein could not miss in the history of Solar Energy; in
1905 he talked about the photo electric effect, associated with the generation of electricity in solar cells.
The Czochralski process (method to obtain crystals of high purity) increased the PV Market. In 1954 scientist at Bell Laboratoires (Murray Hill, NJ D.M. Chapin,
C.S. Fuller, y G.L)
produced the first silicon solar cell capable of creating a controlled
electric current. During the Cold War took place solar cells on
airplanes and satellites.
In 2002, Japan installed 25 000 solar panels on the roofs of houses a cross all the country.
In 2003, investements in Solar Energy a Wind Energy exceeded 20 000
million dollars per year.
In 2006, in the world are more than 2 500 megawatts in Photovoltaic Energy.
History of Solar Thermal Energy
In China and in the ancient Greece, people used the sunlight with mirrors or glass for makig fires.
During war time, the same technique was used to set fire to enemy
ships. In the early twentieth century had already been invented simple
machines that could run from the concentration of heat from the
sun.
In
1913, Frank Shuman (American) developed the first solar thermal pumping
station in Meadi, Egypt. This system worked with 5 large reflectors,
each one had 62 meters long and contained glass mirrors forming a
cylinder like parable. Each reflector focused the sunlight on a tube
along its length, heating the water that lay within them. The generated
steam fed a motor connected to a pump. This system was able to
distribute 6000 gallons of water per minute from the River Nile to
nearby places.
The
modern history of Solar Thermal Energy began in the crude oil crisis of
the 70s. Jimmy Carter, then President of the U.S., boosted the
concentrated solar power plants, SEGS and decided to install solar
thermal collectors on the roof to heat water from the White House.
In
1984 California built the first plant SEGS-1 (Solar Energy
Generating System). These kind of plants operate with a parabolic
trough collector system. The SEGS consist of a solar field with
parallel rows of parabolic trough collectors connected in series to
convert solar energy into heat, warming the oil passing through the
absorber tubes of solar collectors. The hot oil is sent to a heat
exchanger where it generates superheated steam required to drive a
turbo-alternator, and that is how it produces electricity.
Thermal Storage Tank through molten salts for Solar Thermal Power Plants.
SEGS
plants began with a power of 14 MW and ended with an output
of 80 MW, with a total installed capacity of 354 MW. These plants
continue to operate successfully until 2003.
The
record with this type of plants inspired Spain to continued with is
investigations, opening in 2009 the solar thermal plant in Aldeire
Andasol-1, Granada.
The
project aims Andasol-1 is to convert solar energy into electrical
energy through a solar field of parabolic trough collectors, a thermal
storage system capacity of 6 hours plus 25% confidence based on molten
salts and a steam cycle 49,9 MW-building.
Andasol-1
process: when the sun shines field collectors concentrate solar
radiation on the absorber tubes and heat the fluid to a temperature of
393º. In the fluid are inorganic salts such as sodium nitrate and
potassium nitrate, when they reach the higher temperature fluid is
transported to a hot tank. At night, the hot tank to tank transfers the
cold fluid, hence the hot salt transfer energy to the fluid and
generate steam.
Andasol-1 achieved an efficiency of 16% average annual conversion of solar radiation into electrical energy.
Whe should also highlight the PS10 and PS20 solar power plants created by Abengoa Solar Company.
The
PS10 is the first solar tower plant that produces electricity in a
stable way and commercial. It consits of 624 heliostats to focus
solar radiation incident on the receptor that is found on top of a
tower 115 meters high.
The
receiver is responsible for generating saturated steam directly,
consists of 4 vertical panels 5,5 m wide and 12 m in height. PS10
contains 30 minutes of storage even at low irradiation. The solar plant
is capable of supplying 5,500 homes and save 6,700t of CO2 per year.
The
PS20 is the second plant in the world this technological system. It
consists of 1,255 heliostats to reflect solar radiation
received on the receiver on the tower of 165 meters of height wich
produces steam to generate electricity in the turbine. The plant can
power 10,000
homes and save 12,000 t of CO2 per year.
Currently
the researches about solar thermal energy are growing, maye a
Solar Thermal Plant construction cost more than a typical thermal
plant, but eventually they be the only alternative because we are
killing our planet and we must act fast to reserve.
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