Solar-powered desalination system requires no extra batteries
Because it doesn’t need expensive energy storage for times without sunshine, the technology could provide communities with drinking water at low costs.
https://news.mit.edu/2024/solar-powered-desalination-system-requires-no-extra-batteries-1008
Paper:
@corlin Great - someone's actually using solar for an application that suits its strengths!
Solar and wind definitely do have a place - and that particular case is a perfect example of what that ought to look like.
They may not be suitable to act as the backbone of the grid, but they ARE suitable for applications where momentary & daily consistency aren't crucial.
I could see aluminium smelting being another great use case, if we can make a smelter capable of ramping up and down quickly.
“Rocks in a Box” storing electrical energy as heat, then producing either high heat, or transferring it back into electricity, for industrial purposes.
A few pilot programs are up and running. One for aluminum smelter and the other for steelmaking.
@corlin Skeptical, for numerous reasons.
One notable example: they keep saying supplying a reliable source of high-grade heat to heavy industry without the use of fossil fuels is "a problem without a solution" - it's not. Electric arc furnaces have existed since 1888, and they can be run off hydropower or nuclear; nuclear reactors can also be built to directly supply extremely high temperatures (even some *1960s* HTGRs were capable of supplying 950C), and are exceptionally reliable.
@corlin Additionally, keeping those fancy thermophotovoltaics from getting fried by the high temperatures would be quite the achievement, given semiconductors are quite heat-sensitive and generally have short lifespans at elevated temperatures. When they fail... $$$$$.
A more robust solution would likely be to use mature steam technology - use the heat from the thermal battery to make high-pressure steam, then use the steam to spin a turbine (which also stabilizes the grid thanks to inertia).
@IrelandTorin
One the new and special photovoltaic system has been proved to be robust and long lasting at 2,000°.
Two they do use steam, and other heat carrying fluids to run turbines.
@corlin As far as I'm aware, there is no known way to build semiconductor devices that can function - let alone *survive for extended periods* - at those kinds of temperatures (ie ~2000 Celsius).
My understanding of physics suggests that should not even be possible; those temperatures are high enough that the dopant atoms should become mobile and start diffusing through the bulk semiconductor, quickly destroying the p-n junction & rendering the device useless.
Are you sure they're not lying?
@IrelandTorin
I am saying they have a working pilot plant. And I don’t believe the photovoltaic is based on silicon.
I have no idea of the composition.