Eco Factor: World’s first plant that uses molten salts both to store and to collect heat.
Enel, the Italian electricity company has recently unveiled Archimede, the world’s first plant that uses molten salts not just to store heat but also to collect it from the sun. Located in Priolo Gargallo, the 5MW Concentrating Solar Power plant makes use of molten salts for heat transfer and storage, and is fully integrated to an existing combined-cycle gas power plant. Enel and ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development came together to shape up this pioneering project.
Using molten salt has numerous benefits like it can operate at higher temperatures than oils, which helps in increasing efficiency and power output of a plant. As the direct use of salts allows higher-temperature heat storage, the plant can also extend its operating hours well further than an oil-operated CSP plant with molten salt storage, thus working 24 hours a day for several days in the absence of sun or during rainy days.
The higher temperatures reached by the molten salts also enable the use of steam turbines at the standard pressure/temperature parameters as used in most common gas-cycle fossil power plants, meaning conventional power plants can be integrated or replaced easily with this technology without having to install new devices. The power plant coming with a price tag of around 60 million euros will opened this month in Italy.
Via: Guardian
