Turning a solar power system into its own backup
Summary
Ars Technica describes 247Solar's solar-thermal system that can back up solar with fossil fuels if needed. The design uses heliostats to heat air to approximately 970°C, stores heat in ceramic pellets, and drives a turbine via a heat exchanger. It is modular, starting with two 200 kW generators and scalable to several megawatts, with potential applications for remote mining and grid-backed renewable power.