Page - 109 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

often in the early days ofmodern solar energy that if solar had beenaweaponofwaritwouldhavebeenfullydevelopedbynow. 8.2.2.1 Power tower Following the OPEC-imposed Oil Embargo of 1973–74 and increased global interest in energy issues, the US DOE started a CSTP project called Solar One. It involved hundreds of ground-mounted reflecting mirrors, called heliostats, individually tracking the Sun and directing their sunlight to a water receiver at the top of a 400 foot high centrally located tower (see Figure 8.6). It was located in theMojaveDesert just east of Barstow, CA, and was the first test of a large-scale power tower plant. The heated water was converted into steam and fed into a steam-turbine generator. Construction of Solar One was completed in 1981 and itwas operational from1982 to 1986. It was then redesigned to incorporate molten salt (60% sodium nitrate, 40% potassium nitrate) as the thermal collection and storage medium, and relabeled Solar Two. The redesign was Figure 8.6 Solar One power tower plant (Source: U.S. National RenewableEnergyLaboratoty). Renewableenergy 109