Matteran Energy Solar Power Plant Update

I checking in on Matteran Energy's effort to make a residential scale solar power plant today. The new is good. They are making progress and I expect from what I read and what I have seen their rate of progress like in the past, they will have a fully functional, probably even ready for market, unit by the end of the year.

Here is their latest upate

Their web site is cheesy as hell, but don't be put off by that. There is a reasonably good video on there that explains what their technology is all about. I will attempt to explain here as well.

They take advantage of the fact that the sterling cycle works the same no matter what temperature range you are operating in. The sterling cycle (and I am rusty on this, so if I get it a bit wrong, forgive me), is the cycle used by just about every major generator out there. Water is heated to steam, the steam is pressurized and pushed past a turbine. This turbine spins the generator and the steam is released.

In the case of M.E.'s engine, they use a fluid that boils somewhere around 80F instead of water. This fluid is kept in a sealed system. Sunlight is enough to heat it to boiling and pressurize the system. The rest of the cycle is typical with the exception that the fluid is not released -- it is forced into a multistage cooling line that condenses it back to a liquid. This liquid is then dumped (using gravity instead of a pump) back into the boiler chamber.

I find this machine fascinating because it is simple and honestly not anything new. It is merely a reapplication of existing technology with some minor tweaks. I also like the fact that it works and has been demonstrated for live audiences on a smaller scale.

Anyway, I know many folks don't hear about these grass roots technologies out there for better power generation, such as plasma arc gassification, so I thought I might share.

Cheers!