SolarReserve, a Santa Monica, CA company, has announced the Rice Solar Energy Project to be built in the Sonoran Desert east of Palm Springs. As many as 17,500 large mirrors, each 24’ x 28’, will be attached to 12’ high pedestals. The mirrors, or heliostats, will be installed in a circular array around a 538’ high concrete tower. Atop the tower will be a 100’ receiver filled with 4.4 million gallons of liquid salt. The heliostats will focus the sun on the receiver, heating the salt to 1050° F. The liquefied salt then flows through a steam-generating system to drive turbines.
This solar farm will produce 150 megawatt of solar power, allowing the solar energy to be stored for up to seven hours in the form of molten salt. The heat from the salt can be released on cloudy days or at night to create steam for electricity-generating turbines.
An even larger solar farm is planned by Abengoa Solar, at a plant outside of Phoenix. That project will involve the heating of synthetic oil inside tubes to create steam and transfer some of the heat to salt-filled storage tanks. The Abengoa Solar project will generate 280 megawatt of solar power.