The First Solar Thermal Plant Working 24/7
18 August 2010
ENEL, the main electric energy company in Italy, has recently inaugurated a new solar thermal plant in Riolo Gargallo, Sicily, which is able to function 24 hours a day.
The project, named Archimedes after the famous Greek inventor, has been built using a technology developed by ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment). It is the first plant in the world to use molten salts as thermal fluid and to integrate a combined cycle gas turbine with a solar thermal plant thus producing electric energy during night time.
The thermal solar plant is composed of a 30,000 m2 field of mirrors (parabolic troughs). These mirrors converge the sun light towards a 5,400 m long piping system through which the thermal fluid runs.
The molten salts used are a mix of sodium and potassium nitrates able to accumulate heat for long periods. The fluid is heated at a temperature as high as 550° and stored in tanks. The thermal energy that it produces can be withdrawn to produce vapour in the nearby combine cycle gas engine and generate electricity when is needed until the thermal energy in stock runs out.

The plant has a 5 MW capacity and it will save 2,100 tonnes of oil equivalent and reduce 2,350 tons of CO2 emissions in addition to the current plant performance.

Please refer to the ENEL website for more information."
 

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