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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (8700)	5/29/2009 4:37:56 PM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 86350

Salt may be cheap. OTOH you'll need a lot of it. But of course, presumably it won't get used up. I see the process uses water too. That is a scarce valuable commodity in places where solar power will be generated.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (8700)	6/26/2009 9:32:44 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86350

Salt is cheap. Water is too by most standards (although not as much if it has to be very high purity, and of course not as much in the desert, where large solar plants would be most efficient). The problem isn't with the salt and water, its with setting up and running and maintaining the whole cycle. Heating/melting the salt, then extracting the heat would require equipment which has to be bought and maintained, and would also reduce the physical efficiency of the plant (but increase the economic efficiency assuming the equipment is not too expensive to buy, run, and maintain)