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IPFS News Link • Energy

First Hybrid Power Plant Will Combine Solar, Wind and Natural Gas

• Rebecca Boyle via PopSci.com

A new hybrid power plant to be built in Turkey will combine a traditional gas-fired steam turbine with solar thermal power and wind power, according to GE. It’s a step toward integrating renewable sources into the traditional power grid, using steam and mirrors.

The solar component is a field of sun-tracking mirrors that will focus sunlight on a tower to produce steam, which will be fed into the steam turbine to increase the plant’s output. A small wind farm connected to the plant will provide another 22 megawatts of power.

The plant will produce 522 megawatts in total, with 450 of that coming from the natural gas plant, so its renewable portfolio is not exactly robust. But the real gain may be in the ease with which wind and solar are being added to the power grid. Instead of localized solar arrays, or distant behemoth wind farms, the renewable sources are being added to a traditional-style power plant. The varying systems can share a control center as well as connections to the grid, which can make them cheaper and easier to integrate. GE says it can cut the cost of a solar thermal system in half, according to Technology Review.

The natural gas component also smooths out the variability problems inherent in wind energy. When it’s not blowing, natural gas will generate steam to spin the turbines.

 

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