• Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaMo

    From a a@21:1/5 to All on Tue Sep 12 15:04:42 2023
    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to All on Tue Sep 12 22:30:46 2023


    Yet one more #veryStupidByLowIQaa post.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Larkin@21:1/5 to All on Tue Sep 12 17:13:51 2023
    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <manta103g@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anthony William Sloman@21:1/5 to John Larkin on Tue Sep 12 18:06:21 2023
    On Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 10:14:09 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <mant...@gmail.com>
    wrote:
    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180
    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?

    Not since China started making high efficiency solar cells in ten time the volume (and at half the price) that anybody else had.

    --
    Bill Sloman, Sydney

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From boB@21:1/5 to jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com on Tue Sep 12 21:33:21 2023
    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin <jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <manta103g@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.


    boB

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jan Panteltje@21:1/5 to boB@K7IQ.com on Wed Sep 13 05:04:20 2023
    On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:33:21 -0700) it happened boB
    <boB@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kre2gih6ifl0m99oklil9gnrrf4pr8nihi@4ax.com>:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin ><jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <manta103g@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.

    IIRC one issue is storage
    Th heat can be used to store energy

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
    quote:
    " Early designs used these focused rays to heat water and used the resulting steam to power a turbine.
    Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate,
    60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
    These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive turbines.
    Storing the heat energy for later recovery allows power to be generated continuously,
    while the sun is shining, and for several hours after the sun has set (or been clouded over).
    "

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From boB@21:1/5 to alien@comet.invalid on Wed Sep 13 18:37:58 2023
    qqOn Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:04:20 GMT, Jan Panteltje
    <alien@comet.invalid> wrote:

    On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:33:21 -0700) it happened boB ><boB@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kre2gih6ifl0m99oklil9gnrrf4pr8nihi@4ax.com>:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin >><jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <manta103g@gmail.com> >>>wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.

    IIRC one issue is storage
    Th heat can be used to store energy

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
    quote:
    " Early designs used these focused rays to heat water and used the resulting steam to power a turbine.
    Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate,
    60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
    These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive turbines.
    Storing the heat energy for later recovery allows power to be generated continuously,
    while the sun is shining, and for several hours after the sun has set (or been clouded over).
    "

    Well, there is that, yes. That assumes also that the sun is
    shining, too, which it mostly does there.

    I tried to find how much storage they had but found this in the
    Wikipedia article..

    "(NREL) estimated the cost of electricity from concentrated solar with
    10 hours of storage at $0.076 per kWh in 2021"

    Either way, it failed so far. They're working on it sounds like...

    Looks like it is also going to be a while before the price per kW-Hour
    matches up with current utilities. They gotta try to make it better
    at least. That's good.

    boB

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jan Panteltje@21:1/5 to boB@K7IQ.com on Thu Sep 14 04:32:09 2023
    On a sunny day (Wed, 13 Sep 2023 18:37:58 -0700) it happened boB
    <boB@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kvo4gitc6j4o2424aok15frqg9egi9vppa@4ax.com>:

    qqOn Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:04:20 GMT, Jan Panteltje
    <alien@comet.invalid> wrote:

    On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:33:21 -0700) it happened boB >><boB@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kre2gih6ifl0m99oklil9gnrrf4pr8nihi@4ax.com>:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin >>><jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <manta103g@gmail.com> >>>>wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked >>>>economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.

    IIRC one issue is storage
    Th heat can be used to store energy

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
    quote:
    " Early designs used these focused rays to heat water and used the resulting steam to power a turbine.
    Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate,
    60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
    These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive
    turbines.
    Storing the heat energy for later recovery allows power to be generated continuously,
    while the sun is shining, and for several hours after the sun has set (or been clouded over).
    "

    Well, there is that, yes. That assumes also that the sun is
    shining, too, which it mostly does there.

    I tried to find how much storage they had but found this in the
    Wikipedia article..

    "(NREL) estimated the cost of electricity from concentrated solar with
    10 hours of storage at $0.076 per kWh in 2021"

    Either way, it failed so far. They're working on it sounds like...

    Looks like it is also going to be a while before the price per kW-Hour >matches up with current utilities. They gotta try to make it better
    at least. That's good.

    boB

    Yes, there is this in Chile:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Dominador_Solar_Thermal_Plant
    funny, just yesterday there was a documentary about it on German TV. Operational since 2021, 100 MW with an other 100 MW in the making.
    Annual net output
    950 GW·h (secured sale)
    Storage capacity
    1,925 MW·he

    Lost of sun there!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to Jan Panteltje on Thu Sep 14 06:25:05 2023
    On Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 06:32:18 UTC+2, Jan Panteltje wrote:
    On a sunny day (Wed, 13 Sep 2023 18:37:58 -0700) it happened boB <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kvo4gitc6j4o2424a...@4ax.com>:
    qqOn Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:04:20 GMT, Jan Panteltje
    <al...@comet.invalid> wrote:

    On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:33:21 -0700) it happened boB >><b...@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kre2gih6ifl0m99ok...@4ax.com>:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin >>><jjla...@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <mant...@gmail.com> >>>>wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #ChinaModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked >>>>economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.

    IIRC one issue is storage
    Th heat can be used to store energy

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
    quote:
    " Early designs used these focused rays to heat water and used the resulting steam to power a turbine.
    Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate,
    60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
    These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive
    turbines.
    Storing the heat energy for later recovery allows power to be generated continuously,
    while the sun is shining, and for several hours after the sun has set (or been clouded over).
    "

    Well, there is that, yes. That assumes also that the sun is
    shining, too, which it mostly does there.

    I tried to find how much storage they had but found this in the
    Wikipedia article..

    "(NREL) estimated the cost of electricity from concentrated solar with
    10 hours of storage at $0.076 per kWh in 2021"

    Either way, it failed so far. They're working on it sounds like...

    Looks like it is also going to be a while before the price per kW-Hour >matches up with current utilities. They gotta try to make it better
    at least. That's good.

    boB
    Yes, there is this in Chile: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Dominador_Solar_Thermal_Plant
    funny, just yesterday there was a documentary about it on German TV. Operational since 2021, 100 MW with an other 100 MW in the making.
    Annual net output
    950 GW·h (secured sale)
    Storage capacity
    1,925 MW·he

    Lost of sun there!


    thank you for the link
    but photothermal looks to be an ancient technology, alike concentrated photovoltaics, totally abolished today
    and efficiency per area is very, very low and solar tracking mechanism is prone to failure in the dessert

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 14 13:53:01 2023


    Darius the Dumb has posted yet one more #veryStupidByLowIQaa article.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jan Panteltje@21:1/5 to manta103g@gmail.com on Thu Sep 14 15:02:32 2023
    On a sunny day (Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:25:05 -0700 (PDT)) it happened a a <manta103g@gmail.com> wrote in <505d7763-ee04-4f23-9495-75d8da148been@googlegroups.com>:

    On Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 06:32:18 UTC+2, Jan Panteltje wrote:
    On a sunny day (Wed, 13 Sep 2023 18:37:58 -0700) it happened boB
    <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kvo4gitc6j4o2424a...@4ax.com>:
    qqOn Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:04:20 GMT, Jan Panteltje
    <al...@comet.invalid> wrote:

    On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:33:21 -0700) it happened boB
    <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kre2gih6ifl0m99ok...@4ax.com>:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin
    <jjla...@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <mant...@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #Chin= >aModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.

    IIRC one issue is storage
    Th heat can be used to store energy

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
    quote:
    " Early designs used these focused rays to heat water and used the res= >ulting steam to power a turbine.
    Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems = >using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate,
    60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
    These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to sto= >re the energy before using it to boil water to drive
    turbines.
    Storing the heat energy for later recovery allows power to be generate= >d continuously,
    while the sun is shining, and for several hours after the sun has set = >(or been clouded over).
    "

    Well, there is that, yes. That assumes also that the sun is
    shining, too, which it mostly does there.

    I tried to find how much storage they had but found this in the
    Wikipedia article..

    "(NREL) estimated the cost of electricity from concentrated solar with=

    10 hours of storage at $0.076 per kWh in 2021"

    Either way, it failed so far. They're working on it sounds like...

    Looks like it is also going to be a while before the price per kW-Hour=

    matches up with current utilities. They gotta try to make it better
    at least. That's good.

    boB
    Yes, there is this in Chile:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Dominador_Solar_Thermal_Plant
    funny, just yesterday there was a documentary about it on German TV.
    Operational since 2021, 100 MW with an other 100 MW in the making.
    Annual net output
    950 GW·h (secured sale)
    Storage capacity
    1,925 MW·he

    Lost of sun there!


    thank you for the link
    but photothermal looks to be an ancient technology, alike concentrated phot= >ovoltaics, totally abolished today
    and efficiency per area is very, very low and solar tracking mechanism is p= >rone to failure in the dessert

    I dunno, places with a lot of sun and for example solar cells
    need large batteries to cover the nights or cloudy periods.
    This thing uses molten salt that is kept in a thermally insulated container
    and can work past cloudy periods and nights.
    The molten salt is a better method than batteries if I understand it right. Batteries have very limited charge-discharge cycles and are expensive.
    The salt comes from a local mine.

    You did say you are working with Peltier elements?
    I have several of those (from ebay), been playing with some, also for cooling.

    But as somebody else pointed out, heat from the inner of the earth can power a lot too,
    24/7 at that.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to Jan Panteltje on Thu Sep 14 10:51:45 2023
    On Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 17:02:46 UTC+2, Jan Panteltje wrote:
    On a sunny day (Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:25:05 -0700 (PDT)) it happened a a <mant...@gmail.com> wrote in
    <505d7763-ee04-4f23...@googlegroups.com>:
    On Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 06:32:18 UTC+2, Jan Panteltje wrote:
    On a sunny day (Wed, 13 Sep 2023 18:37:58 -0700) it happened boB
    <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kvo4gitc6j4o2424a...@4ax.com>:
    qqOn Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:04:20 GMT, Jan Panteltje
    <al...@comet.invalid> wrote:

    On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:33:21 -0700) it happened boB
    <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote in <kre2gih6ifl0m99ok...@4ax.com>:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:13:51 -0700, John Larkin
    <jjla...@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:04:42 -0700 (PDT), a a <mant...@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Exploring China's largest photothermal power plant in Dunhuang #Chin= >aModernization


    https://twitter.com/i/status/1701505928435016180

    Have any of those reflector tower things ever really worked
    economically?


    Naaahhhh. They tried. A couple of times.

    Photovoltatics work more consistently when there is sun.

    IIRC one issue is storage
    Th heat can be used to store energy

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
    quote:
    " Early designs used these focused rays to heat water and used the res= >ulting steam to power a turbine.
    Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems = >using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate,
    60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
    These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to sto= >re the energy before using it to boil water to drive
    turbines.
    Storing the heat energy for later recovery allows power to be generate=
    d continuously,
    while the sun is shining, and for several hours after the sun has set = >(or been clouded over).
    "

    Well, there is that, yes. That assumes also that the sun is
    shining, too, which it mostly does there.

    I tried to find how much storage they had but found this in the
    Wikipedia article..

    "(NREL) estimated the cost of electricity from concentrated solar with=

    10 hours of storage at $0.076 per kWh in 2021"

    Either way, it failed so far. They're working on it sounds like...

    Looks like it is also going to be a while before the price per kW-Hour=

    matches up with current utilities. They gotta try to make it better
    at least. That's good.

    boB
    Yes, there is this in Chile:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Dominador_Solar_Thermal_Plant
    funny, just yesterday there was a documentary about it on German TV.
    Operational since 2021, 100 MW with an other 100 MW in the making.
    Annual net output
    950 GW·h (secured sale)
    Storage capacity
    1,925 MW·he

    Lost of sun there!


    thank you for the link
    but photothermal looks to be an ancient technology, alike concentrated phot=
    ovoltaics, totally abolished today
    and efficiency per area is very, very low and solar tracking mechanism is p= >rone to failure in the dessert
    I dunno, places with a lot of sun and for example solar cells
    need large batteries to cover the nights or cloudy periods.
    This thing uses molten salt that is kept in a thermally insulated container and can work past cloudy periods and nights.
    The molten salt is a better method than batteries if I understand it right. Batteries have very limited charge-discharge cycles and are expensive.
    The salt comes from a local mine.

    You did say you are working with Peltier elements?
    I have several of those (from ebay), been playing with some, also for cooling.

    But as somebody else pointed out, heat from the inner of the earth can power a lot too,
    24/7 at that.


    I once ordered high-temperature Peltier modules for my friend to generate electric energy in off-grid shelter, mounted to furnace's exhaust pipe by one side and cooled by a fan from other side.

    So photothermal is not hot for me.

    At the same time Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)
    can be done at water reservoir and you get large delta T than in case of pumping ocean water from the deapth.
    \
    Ok, hot, black side exposed do direct sun can be as hot as to boil water,
    so we take water as a working fluid as depicted by

    https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydropower/ocean-thermal-energy-conversion.php

    https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydropower/images/oceanthermal.png

    Unfortunately, high pressure systems, pipes are never safe in operation

    so concentrated solar trough technology has never matured

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 14 17:52:20 2023


    Darius the Dumb has posted yet one more #veryStupidByLowIQaa article.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)