It combines Areva’s CLFR for concentrated solar power (CSP) parks with the molten salt test loop (MSTL), allowing the captured energy to be dispatched both at day and nigh.
Areva SA (EPA:AREVA) had initiated operations at its US molten salt energy storage demonstration facility, which goes in combination with the company’s Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) system.
The system, partially financed by the US Department of Energy (DoE), is installed at Sandia National Laboratories’ national solar thermal test plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It combines Areva’s CLFR for concentrated solar power (CSP) parks with the molten salt test loop (MSTL), allowing the captured energy to be dispatched both at day and night.
Areva’s technology uses an array of mirrors that focus the sun’s energy on an elevated evacuated tube receiver to heat the molten salt, which subsequently moves to a separate tank for storage. The molten salt can then be transferred via a heat exchanger to produce steam for electricity generation. Test results have shown that this process reduces the volume of salt needed for storage and also eliminates the need for two sets of heat-exchangers. This, in turn, lowers the overall cost and complexity of the system, Areva explained.
The technology would help the DoE meet the Sunshot programme' goal of cutting the total installed cost of solar systems to USD 0.06 (EUR 0.04) per kWh by 2020, according to Subhash Shinde, manager for Concentrating Solar Technology Organization at Sandia.