A solar thermal power station was to be built in

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known ...

, in north-west

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. The

solar thermal power Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated when ...

station was planned to have a

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station,

of 10 MW and deliver about 30 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, enough to power the whole town. It was reported in November 2010 that the project was scrapped because of

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day or night. Light po ...

concerns. However, as of 2 December 2011 Ingenero Pty Ltd have been named preferred developer to install a 2 MW photovoltaic power system, installation is expected to commence in July 2012. On 24 May 2012 the recently elected

Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A * Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer * Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 19 ...

government announced the withdrawal of state funds for the project. In a statement the Minister for Energy

Mark McArdle Mark Francis McArdle (born 21 December 1956) is an Australian politician and former Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Queensland. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland between 2004 and 2020, representing the electorate of C ...

described the reason for the scrapping as 'saving the taxpayer's money'.

Project

The total cost of the project was to have been A$31 million including a A$7 million gift from the government. The plant was supposed to be running by early 2010. On 16 November 2010, Lloyd Energy Systems advised the government to not proceed further. The cancellation of the project was due to reflective glare issues which had raised concerns about operating in an urban environment and potential impacts on community health. The government decided to invest the remaining $5.7 million from the project towards a photovoltaic solar farm for the area.

Heat storage

The design is a common

solar power tower A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's r ...

design. An array of motorised

heliostat A heliostat (from ''helios'', the Greek word for ''sun'', and ''stat'', as in stationary) is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating f ...

mirrors reflects sunlight to the summit of a tower. The summit houses a receiver, which is heated by the concentrated sunlight. A total of 54 towers of 18 m (59 ft) high will be constructed. An important advantage of

solar thermal energy Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United ...

is the possibility of storing heat for later use. In this way, the plant can also produce electricity at night or on overcast days. A common method is the storage of molten nitrate salt in large tanks; this is the technology used in

Solar Tres Power Tower Gemasolar is a concentrated solar power plant with a molten salt heat storage system. It is located within the city limits of Fuentes de Andalucía in the province of Seville, Spain. Design and specifications The plant is of the solar power tow ...

. The Cloncurry plant uses the new technology of heat storage in blocks of purified

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on la ...

. The blocks are placed on top of the tower. The concentrated light on the receivers of the towers is directly transported to these blocks. The heat for electricity production is drawn from the blocks (i.e. there is no direct heat transport from the receiver).

References

{{EnergyQueensland Proposed solar power stations in Australia North West Queensland Solar power stations in Queensland

Project

Heat storage

See also

References