Italy builds reflective solar power plant

Italian researchers recently built a solar power generation device called "Rotating Mirror Photovoltaic Power Station" on a hill near Florence. It has a power generation capacity of 200 kilowatts and can be used by 60 ordinary households.

The bottom of this solar power generation facility is semicircular, with a semicircular track with a diameter of 25 meters. A small car equipped with many reflectors can move on the track so that the mirrors always face the sunlight during the day. These reflectors reflect the sunlight to a generator with special mirrors, which can convert the heat energy in the sunlight into electrical energy. The total area of ​​these reflectors is 2,500 square meters, and the maximum temperature at the concentrated point of reflected light can reach 1,500 degrees Celsius.

The device was successfully developed by the Florence Institute of Applied Optics of the Italian National Research Council. Francesco D'Amato, the head of the institute's research team, said that the construction cost of this power generation device is one-third of that of a photovoltaic solar power generation device. It occupies a small area and has a relatively small impact on the surrounding landscape. However, the disadvantage of this power generation method is that the power generation efficiency is not high when the light intensity is weak. Therefore, in the future, such power generation devices will be mainly built in southern Italy where the sun is more abundant.

The Tuscany region, where Florence is located, funded the research. Fabio Rogiorani, chairman of the regional government's health committee, said that this power generation device is of great significance to the further promotion of clean energy. Its small footprint and other characteristics are very important for regions with rich tourism resources like Tuscany.