A solar thermal power station at Jemalong is one big step closer to delivering around-the-clock renewable energy, at a very competitive price.
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Vast Solar is set to start commissioning its 6MW pilot plant after Christmas, having almost completed a redesigned section of the plant after a fire.
Chief technology officer James Fisher says the solar thermal technology in use at Jemalong is still in the research and development phase, but it is very exciting.
“We have done a big redesign around the aspects of the sodium circuit (the source of the June fire),” Mr Fisher said.
“We are now implementing those design changes, we hope to finish by Christmas and start commissioning again straight after Christmas.”
Commissioning will take three to six months, but key stages may be complete before that so work can start on the 30MW plant that Vast Solar has planned.
Mr Fisher on Friday hosted senators David Leyonhelm and Dio Wang for a tour of the plant.
He described the visit as very positive and an opportunity to give the senators an insight into the industry.
About 30 people, mostly in engineering, are currently working at Jemalong. They manufacture all their panels onsite.
The Jemalong plant features fields of mirrors, which concentrate solar rays onto a central tower, which heats sodium solution to store the energy generated during the day.
This gives solar thermal its big advantage: its ability to provide electricity around the clock.
Now the cost of this is coming down, Mr Fisher says.
“We don’t want to be dependent on subsidies, we want to compete on the open market,” he said.
“We believe the cost can get very low, seven to 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
“We are looking to be competitive with wind power, which is the cheapest but is an intermittent power source as is solar PV.
“New-build coal is about 12 cents per kW/hr.”
How does it work?
Vast Solar is developing concentrating solar thermal power generation technology with large-scale thermal energy storage.
This produces electricity from the sun’s thermal energy.
Solar energy is captured using heliostats (mirrors) that track the sun to reflect the sun’s rays onto a thermal receiver.
A heat transfer fluid - liquid sodium - is held in a storage tank.
It is pumped to receivers where it is heated to very high temperatures (about 600 degrees).
When needed, the hot fluid is used to heat water to create steam in a boiler, which drives a traditional steam turbine and generator which exports electricity to the grid.
Information from vastsolar.com.au
