The following short video report, from AlJazeera English, shows the workings of Spain’s Torresol Gemasolar solar-thermal plant in Spain.
The following short video report, from AlJazeera English, shows the workings of Spain’s Torresol Gemasolar solar-thermal plant in Spain.
yes2renewables.org 
So build a bigger power plant to produce more energy then store it over night? No offense but why not build a smaller power station that is capable of running around the clock. Also less power is used over night. solar Thermal plants like enviro mission’s tower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTkmTsKLRq0 seems more economical and it is actually capable of running 24 hours a day.
Well, that’s a nice video! But my recollection of the modeling shows these types of towers are less efficient than the Gemasolar type. They are also less proven.
The whole point of the Gemasolar plant is that it CAN store energy to run overnight. If it were smaller as you suggest, it would store less energy and run for less time overnight.
In fact, this plant is only 20MW. Modeling based on the 10MW US plants that they operated during the 1990s suggests that up to 220MW per tower is achievable before the distance from the outer mirrors is too great for it to work.
At this stage, it’s the only renewable technology that can provide round-the-clock dispatchable energy (other than hydro and biofuel, which have limited potential especially in a dry continent like Australia).
Loved the comment when he saw the generator…
“This technology has been around for hundreds of years yeah?”
Err no….only about 130 years…
The first central power station was built in 1881…