Cloncurry solar power station
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This article or section contains information about a planned or proposed power plant, or power plant under construction. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the power plant approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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A solar thermal power station is to be built in Cloncurry, in north-west Queensland. The solar thermal power station will have a capacity of 10-megawatt and will deliver about 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to power the whole town.[1]
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[edit] Project
The total cost of the project is A$31 million including a A$7 million gift from the government [2]. The plant should be running by early 2010.[3]
[edit] Novelty in heat storage
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The design is a common solar power tower design. An array of motorized heliostat mirrors reflects sunlight to the summit of a tower. The summit houses a receiver, which is heated by the concentrated sunlight. A total of 54 towers of 18m (59 feet) high will be constructed.
A novelty in this power plant is that heat is stored. An important advantage of solar thermal energy is the possibility of storing heat for later use. In this way, the plant can also produce electricity at night or on overcast days[citation needed]. A common method is the storage of molten nitrate salt in large tanks; this is the technology used in Solar Tres Power Tower.
The Cloncurry plant uses the new technology of heat storage in blocks of purified graphite. The blocks are placed on top of the tower. The concentrated light on the receivers of the towers is directly transported to these blocks. The heat for electricity production is drawn from the blocks (ie, there is no direct heat transport from the receiver).
