Belgian company Solarmundo are looking to launch their solar power stations as soon as possible. Their power stations are based on a simple modular design allowing them to be scaled to suit requirements of varying sizes.
They have already constructed a pilot plant in Liege, Belgium. Results indicate that when the units are mass produced and large scale plants built in sunny locations, solar energy could be produced for as little as 4 to 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The modular design also permits plants with capacities of up to 800MW to be constructed.
Solarmundo’s design has the advantage over conventional parabolic trough designs in that it uses standardised components, it does not require expensive vacuum insulation or direct water heating without a detour via a heat exchanger. These differences result in a cost reduction of approximately 30% compared to conventional plants. The parabolic trough designed plants are the only commercial solar steam power stations producing commercial power.
Calculations, also indicate that this method of power generation could be cheaper than burning of oil products.
Solar thermal energy plants differs from photovoltaic energy plants in that they do not convert solar energy directly into electricity. Rather they use sunlight to vaopourise water, which in turn is used to drive a turbine, which produces the electricity.
The technology was developed together with partners Bayer AG, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, The Chinese Academy of Space technology and Battenfeld GmbH.
For more information on solar cells, click here.
Posted August 16th, 2002
