The Field on the Way Out

 

Generator

 

Turbine and Evaporator

 

Pretty, Eh?

 

Tracking System

 

Chris Checking Out Mirror Temperature

The mirrors reflect light well enough that they absorb very little heat. They are warm to the touch, but not hot.

Coworker Charlotte

Coworkers and the Racking System

Jeff Explaining

Jeff, who is the plant manager of the whole, and was highly involved in getting the solar project going gave us a great tour. He was very informative and a great guy.

You can see the receiver tube. Pipe inside, encircled by a glass tube that has a vacuum drawn on it. The heat exchange fluid is a mineral oil, so it's non-toxic.

Mirrors, tracking systems, etc.

APS Solar Plant

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to tour a concentrating solar plant built a couple years ago by one of the utilities here in Arizona. It's a trough-type system, with a 1MW turbine. Pretty cool stuff. I enjoyed seeing the engineering of the racking and mirrors. They have it well engineered enough that it takes a very minimal amount of maintenance--pretty much a washing of the mirrors once in awhile, and general stuff. Enjoy the photos!

360

Sabino