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Geo-Thermal
Solar Systems
Solar thermal electric power is produced from the
heat of the sun by using reflectors and lenses to concentrate
the sun’s energy. Heat can be stored, so solar thermal
electric power plants are different from other energy sources
because they can generate power day or night, rain or shine.
· FACT: Using only 1% of the earth’s
deserts to produce clean solar energy would generate more
electricity than is currently being produced on the entire
planet by fossil fuels
Solar thermal systems convert energy from the sun
directly into heat through "passive" systems, or
gather the solar energy and transfer it to a working fluid
to heat water or air in "active" systems. Solar
thermal installations are well suited to use as part of an
overall energy conservation program
Types of Thermal Solar Energy
The leading solar thermal electric technology is
the parabolic trough. It focuses sunlight on a tube that carries
a heat-absorbing fluid. The fluid is then circulated through
a boiler where its heat is used to boil water to steam and
then the steam is routed to a turbine to generate electricity.
Another popular solar thermal energy technology is the central-receiver
plants that use a field of mirrors to focus the sun’s
energy on a central receiver that is mounted on a tower.
A third technology is the solar thermal electric technology.
It is a dish/engine system that is comprised of a parabolic
concentrator, a thermal receiver and a heat engine/generator.
This system tracks sun and reflects the solar energy to the
focus of the dish where it is absorbed by the receiver. The
absorbed heat is then transferred by the receiver working
fluid to the engine.
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