A slightly different approach. This Australian company has attracted "the interest of two potential customers in remote areas of Western Australia. The details are being kept confidential for the moment, but they are most likely mining related, as the load requirements of the client need to be at least 15MW to be worthwhile."
Graphite Energy, an Australian solar thermal technology developer, claims it can provide solar energy at just 8 cents per kilowatt hour to outback and remote locations. The company says they can do this through a new technology that uses graphite to receive and store solar heat.
Like other concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, rows of mirrors focus the sun’s ray onto a tower which heats up water to generate steam. This steam drives a turbine to generate electricity. What distinguishes Graphite Energy’s technology is that its graphite receivers let it store energy via heat exchanges. This gives the system an “in-built” storage option that provides “dispatchable” energy.
For the past two years, Graphite Energy has already been operating a 3 megawatt (MW) solar thermal power plant at Lake Cargelligo in NSW. The company is already in talks with two potential customers for its technology in remote areas of Western Australia. These are probably mining related since it would require a minimum of 15 MW.
For years, Graphite Energy has been looking into graphite as an alternative to molten salt for heat storage and nighttime generation. Unlike molten salt which has a maximum operating temperature of around 565 to 570°C, graphite can be heated to thousands of degrees, which greatly increases the efficiency of CSP.
Gary Baddlock, Chief Operating Officer of Graphite Energy, says the technology is attractive because it can provide stable output over a 24 hour period due to its storage ability and cheap price. Graphite Energy is also looking at other areas that could benefit from its technology aside from CSP such as cogeneration plants and geothermal plants.
