Isn’t the water demand for the cooling of the solar-thermal power plants and cleaning of the mirrors a problem in arid locations?
In arid regions, conventional oil, gas or coal-fired steam cycles are usually air-cooled, and CSP plants can be operated in the same way. Solar-thermal power plants can be cooled by air, and there are cleaning procedures that require very little water. Depending on the location, evaporation cooling towers and seawater cooling may be used because they are more efficient than air-cooling techniques. If saltwater from nearby coasts is used instead of drinking water for the cooling units, a 250 MW collector field may be used to operate a 200 MW turbine and 100,000 m³ of drinking water may be produced a day (over four million liters per hour) through the process of water desalination.
Related Questions
- During the storm, does JEA plan to keep the power and water on or will you turn the power, water and sewer plants off at some point for safety?
- Isn’t the water demand for the cooling of the solar thermal power plants and cleaning of the mirrors a problem in arid locations?
- Power plants require lots of water for cooling. Where will the water for STP 3 and 4 come from?
