World's First Molten-Salt Solar Plant Opens

An anonymous reader writes "Sicily has just announced the opening of the world's first concentrated solar power (CSP) facility that uses molten salt as a heat collection medium. Since molten salt is able to reach very high temperatures (over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit) and can hold more heat than the synthetic oil used in other CSP plants, the plant is able to continue to produce electricity long after the sun has gone down. The Archimede plant has a capacity of 5 megawatts with a field of 30,000 square meters of mirrors and more than 3 miles of heat collecting piping for the molten salt. The cost for this initial plant was around 60 million Euros."

Ooooooh.

[jtownatpunk.net]

I thought the headline said morton-salt.

You're forgetting something

[LordLucless]

Ahhh! Nuclear! Ahhh! It'll explode and kill us all and poison the planet for a bejillion years!

Re:Ooooooh.

[Born2bwire]

When it rains, it p.... OH GOD! It's melting through my skin!!!!!

Proof of concept?

[T Murphy]

So in other words, they are seeing if this design is worth it's salt?

Re:Conversions...

[glwtta]

Uh, no. 30,000 m^2 = 30 km^2.

Try again, smart guy.

Re:It's really not competitive yet

[DryGrian]

Can you spell the words; Prototype, Low-Maintances and Zero Emissions?

Well, I can, but...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Re:Back of the envelope power cost calculation

[Impeesa]

So if anything, the parents estimates are wildly optimistic

Yeah, you should definitely take those numbers with a grain of salt.

Re:Come on..

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a German temperature scale used between the years of 1724 and 1742, which is the current era for all US science :-)

Re:Sounds cool, but...

[CarpetShark]

The Sahara may be a good place for mass production of solar power,

I think it would be better for harvesting solar power. Producing solar power in the Sahara could be little more destructive than hoped.

Re:Sounds cool, but...

[russotto]

Most importantly Sicily is a (slightly) more stable region that does not rely on income from oil like many of the North Sahara states.

At least until the Mafia figures out a way to block out the sun.

Re:Already done?

[Anonymous Coward]

It uses a Sodium Nitrite/Nitrate mixture to absorb and store the sun's heat

This just another case of alternative energy projects taking food from the mouths of the world's starving masses. Don't they realize how many billions of servings of salami and hot dogs could be made from the preservatives locked up in just this one solar plant?