Posing with a Solar Thermal Power Plant

June 10, 2007

While visiting MIT for graduation, I walked right past a new prototype-scale solar-thermal power plant that a group of students had built in one of the Institute’s outlaying parking lots. Given my recent coverage of the Nevada Solar One power plant (see Nevada Solar One Demonstrates Scalability of Solar Thermal Energy), I could not resist posing for a photo (below).

Fortunately, someone familiar with the project was standing guard to ensure latecomers rushing to park in the lot for gradation did not inadvertently hit the installation. So, I was able to learn a little about the power plant before dashing off to receive my Ph.D.

This solar-thermal plant was specifically designed for use in developing counties and was built using old, recycled automobile parts. The four parabolic mirrors concentrate solar energy on the black-painted pipes that run along the foci of each mirror, heating the fluid inside. In the configuration pictured, the system was set up with a heat exchanger (which I am standing in front of, unfortunately) to deliver hot water. A turbine could also be added to extract energy from the collected heat.

Posted by Matthew Traum on June 10, 2007 | Comments (2)

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July 2, 2007

In response to: Posing with a Solar Thermal Power Plant
Undetermined commented:

Thanks for your interest in my blog! I appreciate the correction, and I have updated the post to reflect your input.

June 25, 2007

In response to: Posing with a Solar Thermal Power Plant
Undetermined commented:

That''s "ensure" (or possibly "insure" if you''re not in the USA), not "assure". You could assure someone that they won''t walk into something without ensuring that they won''t.

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