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Surur t1_j3xmhiy wrote

Reply to comment by Zoloir in Solar energy record: Mongolian CSP generated round the clock – 12 days, 24 hours a day by Cosmic_Ray_Bit_Flip

The idea is to use excess solar energy heat and store the transfer fluid to generate electricity at night.

Apparently, trough CSP is about 20-40% efficient, and solar cells are about 20% efficient, and turning electricity to heat is 100% efficient, so if the solar cells are 1/2 the price of the troughs, they would be cheaper than the troughs in generating heated fluid for storage.

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Galactus54 t1_j3zgl5h wrote

But since the troughs probably have a much longer usable life their lifetime efficiency surpasses PV.

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