Solar energy systems use solar radiation to produce electricity. Solar panels convert radiation into electricity, while solar power plants use thermal energy to heat fluid and power turbines. Parabolic troughs, solar dishes, and solar power towers are common types of solar thermal power systems. Solar power plants use solar radiation to heat fluids and create steam, which powers turbines and produces electricity. Solar dish systems use solar collectors to track the sun and concentrate solar energy to heat liquids. Solar power towers use heliostats to direct the sun’s rays towards a tower containing a heat-harvesting fluid.
A solar energy system uses the power of the sun to produce electricity. The sun emits solar radiation and some devices such as solar panels are designed to react to this radiation and convert it into electricity. Most solar power plants use the sun’s thermal energy to heat fluid and power turbine reservoirs. Parabolic troughs, solar dishes, and solar power towers are the three most common types of solar thermal power systems used to mass produce electricity in solar power plants.
Many solar power plants use solar radiation to heat fluids to high temperatures and create steam. In a turbine, the kinetic, or moving, energy of the steam is converted into mechanical energy, which rotates the turbine and produces electricity. The energy produced by a rotating turbine can be harnessed and stored in a generator. While burning fossil fuels also creates the steam needed to spin turbines, using solar radiation is a much cleaner and more energy-efficient approach to creating electricity.
In 1980, a large-scale solar dish plant was opened in California’s Mojave Desert. This plant produces a significant amount of the area’s energy from renewable resources. Parabolic dishes are equipped with reflectors that focus the sun’s rays onto the receiver tubes. The fluid is heated as it flows through receivers and creates steam, which is fed into a system of turbines and generators. Some dish systems, such as the system in the Mojave Desert, are connected to fossil fuel burning systems designed to compensate for cloudy days and other periods of low solar energy.
Solar disk systems employ solar collectors designed to track the sun, moving to absorb the greatest amount of solar energy at any given time. These systems concentrate solar energy at the focal point of the dish component, heating the liquids. A solar power plant that uses solar plates compresses and heats the fluid to spin turbines and produce electricity. While parabolic troughs can heat liquids to average temperatures of 750 degrees Fahrenheit (398.9 degrees Celsius), solar dishes offer working temperatures that can exceed 1,380 degrees Fahrenheit (748.9 degrees Celsius).
Heliostats are essentially flat mirrors used to track the sun. A solar power tower can be connected to a solar power plant system containing hundreds or even thousands of heliostats. These heliostats are arranged to direct the sun’s rays towards a tower, which contains a heat-harvesting fluid. Large-scale solar power tower operations are very efficient and can provide a cheap source of electricity for the future.
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