The City Size Solar Power Supply is designed to gather and deliver 130% of a service sector's total aggregate electrical demand during an average year. Because The City Size Solar Power Supply can store energy efficiently for more than six months, it utilizes the surplus energy gathered during the summer months, when the gathered solar energy is greater than demand, and stores it for use during the winter when energy gathered is less than demand, providing a sufficient amount solar generated power available year round, three hundred and sixty-five days per year. The 30% safety factor allows for unusually cloudy years when there is less than normal sunshine.This year round 24/365 power production capacity of the Solar Power Supply totally eliminates the need for any conventional power plant backup. Current solar systems have a 15% capacity factor and require conventional power back up 85% of the time. The Solar Power Supply eliminates the need for conventional power plants completely; along with entirety of their associated environmental and capital costs.The long term energy is stored in molten NaCl, which holds more than 8 kilowatt hours of thermal energy per cubic foot at 1486OF (807.7OC) making that energy suitable for the power industry's most efficient high temperature turbines at over 51% thermal to mechanical efficiency.
This highest possible thermal to mechanical efficiency using off-the-shelf conventional components reduces the amount of required energy that must gathered and stored to a minimum with the effect of reducing the size of the solar collector and energy storage tank to a minimum as well. The Solar Power Supply has its own self-contained air cooled condenser so no cooling water and its associated thermal pollution are eliminated.Included herein please find an endorsement from Fort Huchauca, an encouraging communication from DOE (pages 49 and following). The SOLAR POWER SUPPLY (look up U.S. Patent 5,686,151) discloses the workings (see page 3), derivation of efficiency (verified by DARPA), and other interactions with JPL, INL (Argonne West National Lab) and MIT among others. The paper includes a proposal to build a pilot project that demonstrates 31 days of efficient energy storage, answers to common questions and includes graphics showing the land required to equal the present day output of all U.S.
power plants, both public and private including nuclear and hydroelectric with a National U.S. Solar Power Supply capable of meeting total U.S. electrical demand of 3.9 trillion kwhrse/year requiring only 0.0012005 of total U.S.
land area. Building The U.S. Solar Power Supply Pilot Project will pave the way for a United States powered without any pollution; be it air, water or strip mined land.