Solar salt energy efficiency

Based on the results of the Solar One plant. Southern California Edison formed a consortium that included DOE and EPRI to constmct a Solar Two Project. Solar Two will convert the idle Solar One central receiver plant from a water/steam system to a molten salt system, thereby improving efficiency and operating performance. With the molten salt technology, solar energy can be collected during the day and stored in the salt to produce electricity when needed. The three-year demonstration is scheduled to begin in late 1996. 

Cover temperature is another variable which controls distillation rate and efficiency. All of the heat transferred to the underside of the cover from the basin, plus the small solar absorption in it, must be dissipated by convection to the surrounding air and by radiation to the sky. Ambient temperature, wind velocity, and atmospheric clarity all influence the temperature driving force necessary to attain the equilibrium heat transfer rate. Cover temperature, in turn, affects basin temperature, so that an over-all equality in heat flows prevails. The primary variable remains, of course, the solar energy input rate, its most important effect being the temperature level in the salt water basin. 

Storability is another important attribute of the chemical fuel hydrogen. Hydrogen makes it possible to economically store over time—for the winter season, for example—energy derived from intermittent sources such as solar power. Hydrocarbons (natural gas, petroleum, coal) obviously are easy to store. But how do you store sunlight or the heat from a nuclear reactor Storage works very well in solar power tower plants, where heat is stored very efficiently in 24-hour, day-and-night cycles in molten salt storage tanks.2... 

Hard water can be softened by several methods which vary in efficiency and cost. Distillation will result in water free of dissolved salts and nonvolatile organic substances. This can be carried out using solar energy, and many devices have been described whereby seawater can be converted into potable drinking water, usually on a small scale. 

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