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Team to use graphite to boost generation at solar thermal plants

SENER has previously provided solar technology for plants including this one, the Andasol 1 facility in Spain

The US Department of Energy has handed a $1.5 million grant to a team working to develop a high-efficiency thermal storage system for solar thermal power plants.

The team includes GrafTech International, a maker of carbon graphite materials and components, which has its global HQ in Parma, Ohio.

The University of California, Berkeley, is also working on the project along with Spanish engineering company SENER Engineering and Systems, Inc.

The project is part of a $62 million Department of Energy initiative to research and develop concentrating solar power systems, announced earlier this month (see this BrighterEnergy.org story).

GrafTech said it would be working with SENER to build a pilot facility in Seville, California, that will represent the “next generation” of solar plants.

GrafTech CEO Craig Shular said: “Through this grant, we have the opportunity to participate in the country’s efforts to research and develop clean, renewable sources of energy. This initiative also enables us to apply our expertise in developing custom carbon and graphite materials to further the solar industry, which ultimately will drive down the cost of energy.”

Technology

Concentrating solar power technology of the type being worked on by the team involves the use of mirrors (known as heliostats) to focus sunlight at a central point, where the concentrated light heats up a fluid, which can then be used to drive a turbine to create electricity.

Because the thermal fluid takes some time to cool down, a solar thermal plant can usually generate power for a certain period after the sun goes down.

The GrafTech/SENER work aims to demonstrate technology that will extend the temperature range at which the thermal storage system can generate power.

SENER has already developed 12 solar plants that use molten nitrate salts as their heat transfer fluid.

Developing a fluid that can have a higher temperature storage would increase the amount of energy that can be extracted and converted into energy, which the firm said was key to making the technology competitive with coal plants.

The project will see GrafTech developing a specialized graphite material that can be used in a solar plant’s central tower to tolerate higher temperatures.

The University of California is to carry out simulations of the storage system in order to demonstrate plant size and characteristics.