• gnufuu@lemmy.caEnglish
    24·
    9 days ago

    Surely those must have burnt a bird or two, better build more Orphan Tear Reactors instead.

    • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      9 days ago

      According to the wikipedia page, that was an issue in the beginning, but they’ve fixed it so that it doesn’t happen any more. Now the main concern is that it still burns fossil fuels to reach operating temps in the morning.

      • whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        9 days ago

        Now the main concern is that it still burns fossil fuels to reach operating temps in the morning

        whaaat

        Is that really necessary or is it just a cheap way to do it?

        • anomnom@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          6·
          9 days ago

          Probably depends on the overnight temps, which can be quite low in the desert especially on short winter days.

          I was under the impression that improvements and pricing of photovoltaics have made the heat collector systems less cost effective. Plus we still aren’t good enough at handling molten salt in long term systems.

  • decolo@piefed.socialEnglish
    14·
    9 days ago

    Driving past Ivanpah is a challenge. That shit is as bright as the sun and right in your field of vision. I think I have permanent vision damage from it

  • PlaidBaron@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    9 days ago

    My understanding is that these are more expensive and less efficient than PVs but they can store the energy as heat. Still, not a surprise they havent taken off.

    • Fetus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      The costs associated with photovoltaic systems have decreased significantly in the past fifteen years or so, and I would say they are the competitor to solar thermal systems.

      As well as storing heat, they can be used for thermal desalination at the same time as power generation. I haven’t seen a breakdown in costs of this system versus something like reverse osmosis, so I can’t really say if it’s better or worse, but I’m sure there’s places that find it useful to have a combined solution to water and power.

    • 0ops@piefed.zipEnglish
      3·
      9 days ago

      You probably saw Ivanpah (first two pics). It’s just south of Vegas

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    8 days ago

    I remember hearing these were worse on the desert habitat where as standar photovoltics being at homes, businesses or integrated into farms are not really destroying anything and often have their own advantages.

      • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        8 days ago

        I think the neatest part is we could have done it once we had a steam engine as mirrors where around for a long time. Granted you can’t do the follow the sun thing but still should be able to get something working given how easy solar ovens are. We are way passed them now and sorta like nuclear they cost a lot and take a lot of time to get online.

        • spicy pancake@lemmy.zipEnglish
          4·
          8 days ago

          you could probably rig up a steampunk sun-following mirror positioning system by just using a shitload of math and astronomical data to pre-program a daily turning system for each individual mirror

          the mirrors themselves probably(?) get hot enough that you could put a steam or Stirling engine with its hot side on the back of the mirror surface & power each mirror’s sickass cog-analog pivot system

          then you just need someone with a handlebar moustache and/or wild frizzy hair to ride a mechanical horse around the mirror field punching in the set points for all the mirror turners every morning, mumbling under their breath about the astronomer’s numbers being slightly off and having to compensate with the mech-horse’s built in calculator, which naturally takes forever as the horse can only display the numerical results by tapping its hoof

          but maybe you could also do it semi-automatically and non-electronically by designing a mechanical feedback system that uses mirror surface temperature as its input data? like if the temperature drops enough, a bimetallic strip or fluid-filled piston engages a gear clutch or something