Sierra SunTower is a tower-type solar-fuel power plant [2] (or solar-thermodynamic power station [3] ) (STES) located in Lancaster , California , USA . Installed capacity of 5 MW . Construction began in 2008 and was completed the following summer [4] . However, the station was connected to the power supply network only in the spring of 2010 [5] .
| Sierra Santauer | |
|---|---|
| Sierra suntower | |
 power station in August 2013 | |
| A country |  USA |
| Owner | |
| Status | Acting |
| Year of commencement of construction | July 2008 [1] |
| Commissioning | July 2009 |
| Operating organization | |
| Main characteristics | |
| Annual electricity production, mln kWh | 4.2 (draft) |
| Electric power, MW | five |
| Number and brand of turbines | 1x GE |
| other information | |
| Site | esolar.com |
| On the map | |
Content
Basic Information
The station is located 114 km north (by road) from Los Angeles , in the city of Lancaster . Built and operated by .
The composition of the station facilities [6] [7] :
- Two hub towers, 55 m high;
- The area of the heliostat site is 8 hectares, the number of heliostats is 24360 units, each with an area of 1.1 m 2
- One restored 1947 General Electric turbine.
The station, like the city, is located in the western part of the Mojave Desert [8] .
During the construction of the station (12 months), more than 300 temporary jobs were created. At the already built power station , only 21 people are constantly working .
The station’s capacities make it possible to provide electricity to 4000 households.
Although STES was inaugurated on August 5, 2009, in 2010 it temporarily ceased to operate [9] . A five-day downtime was caused by welding and the installation of a fire alarm [10] . Even during maximum congestion, the station sometimes stood idle [11] .
Rewards
In December 2009, Power Engineering magazine editors recognized Sierra Santauer as the winner in the Best Renewable Project nomination [12] . It should be noted that the magazine presents such awards annually, choosing the best projects around the world, both among renewable energy sources and non-renewable ones.
In February 2010, the power plant was awarded the Renewable Project of the Year Award [13] .
Power Generation
According to the project, the station was supposed to generate 4270 MW * hour of electricity per year. However, in reality, the indicators were much lower and amounted to about 12% [14] .
Since 2015, the station no longer generates electricity for commercial profit, since the project was considered too costly to operate, except for the most sunny days. As an object of demonstrating the capabilities of solar energy, the station showed an efficiency lower than predicted [14] . In addition, solar panels are a serious competitor to power plants of this type.
| Year | January | February | March | Apr | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | one | 13 | 31 | 47 | 66 | 75 | 73 | 65 | 53 | 24 | 20 | eight | 476 |
| 2011 | 0 | 12 | 17 | 27 | 34 | 43 | 37 | 38 | 26 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 270 |
| 2012 | 2 | 23 | 57 | 82 | 113 | 122 | 105 | 83 | 78 | 61 | 31 | 23 | 780 |
| 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 94 |
| 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total for all time | 1,620 | ||||||||||||
| External Images | |
|---|---|
| Independence Day Station | |
| 2010 year | |
| 2010 year | |
| 2011 | |
| 2011 (entrance) | |
| year 2012 | |
Culture
- During the construction of the power plant, an episode of a television program about the World’s most difficult repair was released about it [16] . The second season, the sixth series of “The Solar Tower”.
Notes
- ↑ Sierra SunTower . nrel.gov. Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ R. B. Akhmedov, I.V. Baum, V.A. Pozharnov, V.M. Chakhovsky. Solar power plants . - M .: VINITI , 1986. - T. 1. - P. 8. - 120 p. - 500 copies.
- ↑ Mikhail Berezkin. Taming the Sun (Rus.) // Science and Life : Journal. - 2013. - No. 12 . - S. 19-25 . - ISSN 0028-1263 .
- ↑ About Sierra SunTower (inaccessible link) . esolar.com. Date of treatment January 4, 2017. Archived on September 18, 2016.
- ↑ Solar Power and Energy Storage in California / Sierra SunTower in Lancaster, CA (inaccessible link) . foxfieldsolar.com. Date of treatment September 15, 2016. Archived October 20, 2016.
- ↑ kristen. Sierra SunTower - A New Blueprint for Solar Energy ( link unavailable) . esolar.com (September 15, 2010). Date of treatment January 4, 2017. Archived October 2, 2016.
- ↑ Plazi Ricklin, Rick Huibregtse, Mike Slack, Dale Rogers. Commercial Readiness of eSolar Next Generation Heliostat (inaccessible link) . esolar.com (September 17, 2013). Date of treatment September 15, 2016. Archived October 2, 2016.
- ↑ Judith Lewis Mernit. A solar plant a tortoise could love . hcn.org (August 10, 2009). Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ Edgar A. Gunther. eSolar Sierra SunTower Project offline . guntherportfolio.com (May 31, 2010). Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ Edgar A. Gunther. eSolar Sierra SunTower Project offline - Clarified . guntherportfolio.com (June 15, 2010). Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ Edgar A. Gunther. eSolar Sierra SunTower offline - Again . guntherportfolio.com (August 30, 2011). Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ Sharryn Harvey. 2009 Projects of the Year ( link unavailable) . power-eng.com (January 1, 2010). Date of treatment September 15, 2016. Archived October 19, 2016.
- ↑ Excellence in Renewable Energy Award Winners Announced (inaccessible link) . renewableenergyworld.com (February 24, 2010). Date of treatment September 15, 2016. Archived October 19, 2016.
- ↑ 1 2 Edgar A. Gunther. eSolar Sierra SunTower: a History of Concentrating Solar Power Underperformance . guntherportfolio.com (April 5, 2013). Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ Sierra SunTower Solar Gen Station, Monthly . Electricity Data Browser . Energy Information Administration . Date of appeal September 15, 2016.
- ↑ eSolar IT. World's Toughest Fixes - “Solar Power Plant” . Vimeo (2014). Date of treatment January 4, 2017.
Links
- esolar.com - official site of the eSolar company (English)
- Video