Seville Spain is now the home of the world's largest thermal solar collector tower. It went online several days ago and was a success on it's first run. The tower itself is 531 feet tall surrounded by 1,255 motorized mirrors. Those mirrors focus over a million and a half square feet of solar light onto the top of the tower. The tower produces steam which is converted into electrical energy by a turbine.Spanish solar giant Abengoa Solar the company behind the world's largest solar tower revealed:
"The performance of the power tower plant, PS20, exceeded design output during its three-day production and operational testing period. The new 20 megawatt solar power plant will produce enough energy to supply 10,000 homes." Yes, "PS20" is the name of the world's largest solar thermal tower-sounds like more like it could be R2-D2's cousin.
The Solar Thermal technology
Power tower systems use a field of heliostats (motorized mirrors) that track the sun on 2 axes and reflect solar radiation toward a central tower. The tower houses a central receiver, where solar radiation is concentrated up to 600 and transferred to a superheated fluid. The fluid's heat is used to generate steam and operate an electricity-generating turbine.
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