Visitors see a model of a Solar power tower. They switch on lights representing sunlight and have to orientate small mirrors to a central spot on the model tower. A display shows the output from the concentrated solar energy. Furthermore they can explore how the power plant can even operate at night with heat storage.
Communicative Goal
The solar power tower is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive the focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun’s rays upon a collector tower (the target). Designs using liquid sodium in place of water have been demonstrated; this is a metal with high heat capacity,
which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive turbines. These designs allow power to be generated when the sun is not shining.
