A solar thermal field for Cyprus

CSIRO scientists have designed and installed a solar thermal field - a half-acre plot of land consisting of 50 special mirrors called heliostats - for a research institute on the island nation of Cyprus, Europe.

The field will be used to generate solar thermal technology, with the heliostats set to reflect sunlight towards a receiver on top of a tower and heat a fluid (the energy generated by the field could bring a kettle to the boil in less than five seconds). The hot fluid will be subsequently used to drive a turbine for generating electricity and power a seawater desalination plant.

The technology will initially be utilised for research purposes by The Cyprus Institute, with a view to longer-term commercial use of the technology in Mediterranean islands and the Middle East. Cyprus Institute President Professor Costas Papanicolas explained that the country has “lots of sunshine, not enough water and is cut off from the continental power grid of Europe, so we need electricity and water. So solar energy, we think, is the answer to part of this problem.”

CSIRO solar research leader Wes Stein revealed that the project was “the first time we’ve deployed this cutting-edge technology outside of our own backyard”.

“It’s given CSIRO a lot of confidence in understanding how we’re going to deploy these things outside of our own safety zone and into other environments. So that’s where we want to go; we want these things to be commercialised and build on the good research that we’re doing now,” he said.

Stein noted that CSIRO recently signed a memorandum of understanding to undertake joint solar research with The Cyprus Institute. He stated, “By working collaboratively through exchange of ideas and researchers, and now with common solar concentrating research infrastructure, we can accelerate the deployment of this technology and make big inroads in reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide.”

Image caption: The solar thermal field designed and installed by CSIRO in Pentakomo, on the southern coast of Cyprus.