Toronado3800
Gold Member
- Nov 15, 2009
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So for a fella like me I'd venture if I owned two of these I could charge a 10 year battery in my basement all day when I'm not home and power use is relatively low then enjoy a few hours of off grid electric.
On non-cloudy days.
None the less its a step towards using the sun for more than growing pumpkins.
Introducing the Most Efficient Solar Power in the World | Alternative Energy | DISCOVER Magazine
In 1986 solar panels were literally ripped from the White House roof. But political will and financial incentives have reignited the search for efficient, affordable ways to harness the suns energy. Two new solar thermal technologieswhich focus sunlight to create heat rather than convert it directly to electricity, as photovoltaics dopromise to make solar power practical at vastly different scales.
The SunCatcher solar thermal system, developed by Tessera Solar and built by Stirling Energy Systems at the Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal Test Facility, captures solar energy at 31.25 percent efficiency, the highest ever achieved by this technology. Each of SunCatchers 38-foot-wide dishes collects enough heat energy to run a Stirling engine that can then generate 25 kilowatts of electric power. The system will fulfill two of the worlds largest solar contracts, providing a planned 1,600 megawatts to Southern California by 2014. It improved on its predecessor with a new design that makes each dish substantially lighter and cheaper to manufacture.
Meanwhile, a group of recent and current MIT engineering students is working to bring solar thermal to Africa with an off-grid system that operates on a much smaller scale. The team has developed a microgenerator capable of producing 3 kilowatts of electric power plus hundreds of gallons of hot water each day using relatively inexpensive, readily available components such as auto parts. Engineer and cofounder Amy Mueller says that the MIT groups nonprofit, called STG International, has already set up microgenerators at two locations in Lesotho. A third Lesotho installation is under construction at a medical clinic, where it will provide power for lighting and communications equipment as well as hot water.
On non-cloudy days.
None the less its a step towards using the sun for more than growing pumpkins.
Introducing the Most Efficient Solar Power in the World | Alternative Energy | DISCOVER Magazine
In 1986 solar panels were literally ripped from the White House roof. But political will and financial incentives have reignited the search for efficient, affordable ways to harness the suns energy. Two new solar thermal technologieswhich focus sunlight to create heat rather than convert it directly to electricity, as photovoltaics dopromise to make solar power practical at vastly different scales.
The SunCatcher solar thermal system, developed by Tessera Solar and built by Stirling Energy Systems at the Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal Test Facility, captures solar energy at 31.25 percent efficiency, the highest ever achieved by this technology. Each of SunCatchers 38-foot-wide dishes collects enough heat energy to run a Stirling engine that can then generate 25 kilowatts of electric power. The system will fulfill two of the worlds largest solar contracts, providing a planned 1,600 megawatts to Southern California by 2014. It improved on its predecessor with a new design that makes each dish substantially lighter and cheaper to manufacture.
Meanwhile, a group of recent and current MIT engineering students is working to bring solar thermal to Africa with an off-grid system that operates on a much smaller scale. The team has developed a microgenerator capable of producing 3 kilowatts of electric power plus hundreds of gallons of hot water each day using relatively inexpensive, readily available components such as auto parts. Engineer and cofounder Amy Mueller says that the MIT groups nonprofit, called STG International, has already set up microgenerators at two locations in Lesotho. A third Lesotho installation is under construction at a medical clinic, where it will provide power for lighting and communications equipment as well as hot water.
