In the Soviet Union, as in the United States, experimentation is going on to find effective ways of producing energy from solar radiation—especially useful in countries where conventional fuels are scarce. Design projects are under way at Moscow, Tashkent, Ashgabat, and other experimental centers.
George O. F. Lof, consulting engineer and part-time member of the RFF staff, who for some years has been specializing in solar energy, recently returned from a visit to the Soviet Union, which he undertook at the invitation of the National Academy of Sciences as part of the Scientist Exchange Program. He reports that one of the most interesting and furthest developed of the projects—a design for a 1,000-kilowatt solar thermal power station —utilizes the undercarriages of special railway cars each of which is fitted with a 9 x 15 ft. reflector made up of thirty separate flat mirrors. This study has been in progress for a number of years, but recent developments are bringing it close to a final design.
Triple movements catch every scrap of sunlight. The railway cars move slowly along twenty-three concentric tracks encircling a steam-producing boiler which is placed on top of a high tower. The boiler turns on its axis to follow the course of the sun. The reflectors on the railway cars tilt independently to collect the greatest amount of sunlight at each moment of the day. The movements of boiler, cars, and reflectors are regulated by automatic instruments and by tracking systems 3 the photocells of which enable the light reflected from all the mirrors to concentrate continuously on the boiler. High-pressure steam from the boiler passes to a turbine which powers an electric generator.
An output of 8.2 million kilocalories per hour, equivalent to 24,000 tons of steam and 2.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, is claimed for this installation. A single reflector unit has been constructed and tested, with results fully confirming the theoretical predictions. There now appears to be no major technical obstacle to a successful power system based on this principle.
If current economic and design studies yield favorable results, a solar power station of this type may soon be built near Tashkent in the Uzbek Republic.
A version of this article appeared in print in the September 1964 issue of Resources magazine.
