Sun rises on big solar: historic and modern technologies converge in the desert.(Stirling Energy Systems Inc.)(California Public Utilities Commission)(plans for sun farms)

Design News, January, 2006 by Sharke, Paul

LATE LAST OCTOBER, THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION APPROVED PLANS FOR a 4,500-acre sun farm that will begin harvesting solar energy in late 2008. By 2012, this first of two huge energy farms could be supplying 500 MW daily, enough power to keep the electric meters spinning on a quarter million homes.

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As the utilities begin committing to this 21st century power source, they'll be looking to a 19th century invention, the Stirling engine, for a prime mover. The solar sites will use arrays of sun-concentrating mirrors to track the sphere as it moves through the sky over the Mojave. Each tracking mirror will focus its concentrated light beam on a small Stirling engine, where heated hydrogen will expand and drive...

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