Solar Two Experimental Solar Facility
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| This experimental solar facility, the largest of its type in the country (and only one of two similar structures) was built by the Department of Energy in 1981 as Solar One. This was the first solar power plant in this area, which has since become the solar capital of the world. Unlike the commercial solar plants in the area, Solar Two, as it was later renamed, is a central receiver-type system, with a 200-foot collector tower onto which nearly 2,000 reflectors focus the sun's energy. Each of the reflectors is positioned automatically with a heliostat to track the moving sun. The heat transfer medium, which was heated in the "solar power tower", was circulated to the steam and electric generating facilities. It was a mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate with a high heat retention capacity, maintaining its temperature long enough to be stored in tanks after being heated, and can be used as much as several hours later to generate steam and, subsequently, electricity. The DOE and Southern California Edison, which owns the ground, closed the power facility in the late 1990's. It is now being used as a gamma ray observatory by the University of California, Riverside. |
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Five miles E of Barstow, in Daggett
(POINT(-116.83419 34.8718675))
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| Closed to the public, but visible from public roads. On Santa Fe Road, east of Daggett. Next to SEGS #1 and 2. |
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http://solartwo.ucr.edu/solar2.html
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Observatory, Power Plant / Electrical Generation, R&D
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