Day 19 Solar One

Today we drove to check out Solar One, the solar concentration facility. It was hotter than hell, and we had to wear pants, short sleeves, and shoes. We stood outside to take a look at the mirrors, and I thought I was going to die. It was really cool to be able to see the array, though; it was massive! It takes up 400+ acres and has 125 panels, producing 75.5 MW.  The facility cost $260 million to build, and they needed a power purchase agreement. The array uses the sun to heat synthetic oil to heat water that turns to steam and turns the turbines. This is a super heated system that uses high pressure and low pressure turbines. It is much more efficient than PV. However, the advantage to PV is that there are no moving parts. I thought it was interesting that the concentrated solar is able to run one hour after the solar day is over due to the excessive heat.
There are a few environmental problems here Solar One. Dust storms and monsoon season creates problems because it can bend and break the mirrors. Lightening can also present problems for the facility. Wildlife is sometimes a problem, and they had to follow procedure for desert tortoise because they are endangered and protected in the area.
The Solar One facility was really awesome. It was bigger than I expected- the scale of the project just blew my mind. I didn't realize how large the collectors were, either. When we got up close, I was in awe. I loved when Marc (our guide) made Mannie (technical guy) move the one row towards us so that we could see it in action. That was my favorite part. He explained how it worked and why they tilted it to follow the sun. I learned that they don't constantly move, which is what I imagined. Instead, they move about every hour. Inside the control room, we talked about a number of things. I was very impressed by the computer programs they had. I was also surprised to learn that they have dust devil problems about 3 times a week. I really enjoyed this tour. (I just wish it wasn't so damn hot!) Now we are off to the Grand Canyon!