The grid-connected 100kW system at the Solar Platform research centre is made up of a 35-metre flower-shaped receiving tower and 50 tracking heliostats fanned out over a 2,000-square-metre area. It is the second of its kind: a same-size version was brought on line at an organic date farm north of Eilat, Israel, in 2009.
Aora’s plant is unusual among tower-based concepts as it employs a water-saving design built around technology that uses superheated air-flow rather than steam to power turbines, meaning each array consumes less than 8% of the water needed in conventional CSP plants.
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