Quote:
Originally Posted by ken0042
My question- is this kind of solar plant better in some way over conventional plants? For example on a cloudy day like today, having so many solar panels will still produce a certain amount of power; maybe 25%. With this plant directing the sun's rays to heat water, can it still produce enough heat to turn a turbine?
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I think it's more that solar thermal can be a 24 hour generator, you can heat molten salt or otherwise store the thermal energy during the day and then use it during the night to drive the generators. Photovoltaic cells only generate when there is sunlight so have the be supplemented with other generation techniques.
Or somehow store the electricity, which would usually involve multiple conversions drastically reducing efficiency.