Heliogen's AI-powered high-temperature solar station to be tested in the US

The development of solar energy is progressing by leaps and bounds. So the American mining giant Rio Tinto made a statement on the creation of a pilot version of a high-temperature solar station Heliogen controlled by artificial intelligence, which will be installed at the boron mine in California.

The main task of the new installation will be in the regulation of environmentally friendly electricity, as well as heat for the technological processes of the local enterprise. The full start of the solar station is scheduled for 2022.

What is Heliogen technology

At its core, Heliogen technology is nothing more than an advanced version of a concentrating solar heat generator that is actively controlled by AI. Structurally, this is an installation with a large number of mirrors that surround the central tower.

At the same time, each mirror individually tracks the position of the sun and with the help of special mechanisms positioned to reflect light as accurately as possible onto the collector located at the top of the central towers.

So with a sufficient number of mirrors, the intake manifold can be heated to extreme temperatures. For example, in 2019, at another Heliogen demonstration plant in Lancaster, California, USA, a concentrator temperature was recorded in excess of 1000 degrees Celsius.

In the new solar station, the company's engineers plan to receive temperatures in excess of 1800 degrees Celsius.

What are these stations for?

So, according to B. Gross, such thermal solar stations can be used to generate steam, which will further spin up turbines and thereby generate electricity. The accumulated heat can also be stored and used during hours when the sun is not active. In addition, such a temperature is quite enough to even obtain rather cheap hydrogen with its help.

Thus, a 600x600 meter unit is capable of producing approximately one million kilograms of green hydrogen per calendar year. At the same time, the cost of producing such hydrogen will be only $ 1.8 per kilogram, which is lower than the average price for hydrogen obtained today from not entirely clean sources.

Heliogen Perspective

Thus, the new Heliogen installation for the boron plant Rio Tinto (Boron, Calif.) Will produce up to 15,876 kilograms of steam per hour at the plant around the clock through the use of accumulators.

Thus, it will be possible to reduce air pollution by 7%, which is equivalent to the emissions that more than 5,000 cars carry on the roads. If Heliogen's pilot project proves to be successful, the company will have quite broad prospects.

After all, the facility's ability to generate in addition to electricity and extremely high temperatures practically around the clock make the technology quite promising for many industries.

How long will the revolutionary Heliogen technology take root, only time will tell. Therefore, it remains only to wait and, perhaps, soon such installations will be widespread literally all over the world.

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