Nevada’s “Crescent Dune” Solar Facility will Produce Energy at Night
http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/crescent-facility-produce.htmlNevada’s “Crescent Dune” Solar Facility will Produce Energy at Night
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
Jared Anderson at Breaking Energy writes of technologies for solar power storage that allow the energy generated by the sun to be released at night:
“a US-based company will jump ahead of the competition next year with its molten salt storage technique.
“This technology at this size would leap-frog us into [energy] storage leaders,” Solar Reserve CEO Kevin Smith recently told Breaking Energy.
The California-based, PE-backed startup launches its flagship 110 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project known as Crescent Dunes next year in the Nevada desert. The technology uses a tower-based approach where thousands of mirrors focus sunlight onto a single point to create heat that generates steam used to spin an electricity-producing turbine. First power to the grid is expected mid-2014.”
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Drake Landing Solar Community project in Okotoks, Alberta
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" The Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada has now achieved a year-round 97% solar heating fraction, a world record and possible only by incorporating STES.[1][4]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_energy_storage
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Last updated on November 27, 2013
The Drake Landing Solar Community project in Okotoks, Alberta has won the prestigious Energy Globe World Award after achieving a world record with its first-of-a-kind, large-scale seasonal storage solar heating system. ATCO Gas is operator and part owner of the community heating system.
The four-year-old community consists of 52 single-family homes heated by solar thermal energy. The innovative design allows solar energy to be absorbed in the summer months, stored underground and returned to the homes as heat in the winter.
The solar community is the largest subdivision of energy-efficient and environmentally responsible new single family homes in Canada. It is also the first solar community in the world to receive 80 per cent of its yearly space heating through solar energy. This number is expected to rise to 90 per cent by the community’s fifth year in operation.
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The Energy Globe World Award was announced in late November at a ceremony in Wels, Austria. This is the second award ATCO has received for the project. In 2007, ATCO was honoured with an Energy-TV Award, which recognizes the “best of the best” in Canada’s oil and gas industry.
http://www.atco.com/News/Feature-Stories/Drake-Landing-Solar-Community
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Natural Resources Canada
2010/32
May 25, 2010
OKOTOKS, ALBERTA — Drake Landing Solar Community, Natural Resources Canada, project partners and community members today celebrated a world record: the Drake Landing project is North America’s first large-scale seasonal storage solar system and the first system of its kind in the world to deliver 80 percent of the community’s space heating requirements from solar energy. With this success, the project is well on its way to achieving its goal of providing greater than 90 percent of its heating needs from its solar-powered district heating system by its fifth year.
“This project is an excellent example of Canada’s leadership in developing and implementing innovative solar energy technologies,” said Mr. Ted Menzies, Member of Parliament for Macleod and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance. “By supporting clean energy projects like Drake Landing, our Government is reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and creating clean energy jobs.”
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/media-room/news-release/32/2010-05/1827
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Home page has an active schematic that shows you the operation as it is performing NOW - click on the thermometer next to this image at http://www.dlsc.ca/energy.htm
Showed minus 15C (5F) at the site as I posted this.
CC