Eco Factor: Newly developed concentrating mirrors to reduce cost of solar thermal power plants.
Google.org’s research on “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal” has seen a breakthrough, as the search engine giant has announced the development of a new type of concentrating mirror for solar thermal power plants, which can cut the cost of solar thermal plants in half. Solar thermal plants rely on mirrors to focus sunlight onto a tower carrying a substance that is used to make steam.
This steam is then collected and used to run a turbine to generate electricity. Google has been looking at unusual materials for the mirror’s reflective surface and the substrate on which the mirror is mounted. The company is already discussing the new technology with Brightsource Energy, which has recently got $1.4 billion in loan guarantees for the world’s largest solar thermal power plant.
Via: Treehugger
