South Australia has announced plans to construct the world's largest single-tower solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta. The plant will use technology developed by SolarReserve to store energy in molten salt, giving it the ability to operate 24 hours a day.
California-based solar tech company SolarReserve will be responsible for both the build and upkeep of the facility.
The Aurora Solar Energy Project is based on plans that were developed as part of the Rice Solar Energy Project in California, which stalled as a result of changes to tax credits related to renewable energy.
Aurora is projected to have an output of 150 megawatts and an ability to generate 495 gigawatt hours of electricity each year. The station will be able to service 90,000 homes and is expected to be able to cater to around five percent of South Australia’s total energy needs. Construction on the $650 million plant is about to complete, with the expectation that Aurora will be producing electricity by 2020.
Once built, arrays of heliostats will focus solar energy onto a central tower, which uses molten salt technology to store that energy as heat. These molten salts will provide 1,100 megawatts of energy storage capacity, which equates to eight hours of full load storage. This will allow the facility to generate electricity during the night as well as during the day when sunlight is shining down.
According to weforum
