Lambent Solar Power has developed a new concentrating solar power (CSP) plant technology that can provide continuous output for up to 7 days regardless of weather conditions. The technology uses innovative solar thermal collectors and a non-toxic chemical-based energy storage process to store solar energy collected during the day. This stored energy can then be used to generate electricity continuously at night. The system is fully scalable and aims to provide a guaranteed minimum 3 days of continuous 20MWe output as a base case, overcoming the intermittent power generation of traditional solar and achieving overall efficiencies of 25-28%.

1. Page 1
LAMBENT™ SOLAR POWER
Introduces
A NEW DEVELOPMENT FOR MEGAWATT-SCALE
CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER (CSP) PLANTS
Incorporating
GUARANTEED CONTINUOUS OUTPUT FOR UP TO 7 DAYS
REGARDLESS OF WEATHER CONDITIONS
It is well known that many countries, including Africa, have constraints to their electricity supply.
Constraints such as, insufficient installed generating capacity and intermittent power supply,
adversely affects a country’s requirements for economic growth. This impacts directly on their
ability to grow their GDP.
Continuous green power is what Lambent™ Solar guarantees.
Sunshine on its own (“as received”) is very dilute and diffuse. To be of any use, it must be
concentrated. The ancient and well-known magnifying glass will concentrate sunshine easily and
quickly to ignite paper at a temperature of 232.8o
C (451o
F). This simple demonstration shows the
energy potential that exists in every beam of sunshine.
Recent developments in power generation have turned the spotlight back to sustainable, carbon-
free, non-toxic, non-nuclear, clean, green, renewable power systems, such as wind farms and
concentrating solar power plants.
Producing electricity from sunshine is a relatively straightforward process. Sunlight is collected and
concentrated by a range of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies to provide medium- to
high-temperature heat. This heat is then used to operate a conventional power cycle i.e. the heat
generates steam, which drives a steam turbine, coupled to a generator, which provides electricity
to the grid or “into the wires”.
There is however a clear miss-match between the intermittent daytime-only energy supply from the
sun and the continuous (24/7) demand for energy. This dictates that some-or-other energy storage
arrangement (“battery”) be interposed between energy supply and energy demand in a CSP plant.
The single most crucial aspect of the entire solar power plant is its ability to store solar
energy and release it on demand to generate continuous power.
There are numerous installations of wind and solar plants around the world, and many more are in
the planning stages. All, however, have one common drawback - when no wind or sunshine is
available, there is no power. To date the main focus for storage of thermal energy is molten salt.
Physical laws limit the efficiency of this arrangement, requiring highly insulated vessels and
infrastructural piping.
Solar energy collected during the day can be stored in liquid or solid media (molten salts, ceramics,
concrete, phase-changing salt mixtures. etc). At night, this stored heat can be extracted from the
storage medium and applied to drive the turbine and generator.
The “fatal flaw”, the “Achilles heel” of all CSP plants at present is that they cannot deliver electricity
continuously throughout the night because they run out of energy to generate electricity.

2. Page 2
The challenge becomes – design & engineer them to do so.
The South African engineers of Lambent™ Solar Power have taken up this problem of storage of
thermal energy and have designed a process that allows not only clean, green, sustainable power
generation, but also the storage of thermal energy, which is used during periods of low or no solar
input to continue the generation of electricity.
Lambent™ Solar Power has successfully solved this aspect with the use of chemicals for energy
storage. Some of the attributes of a Lambent™ Solar Power Plant are –
• It does not produce “greenhouse” gases
• It has no toxic emissions
• In fact, it has no emissions of any sort
• It uses closed-loop recycling for the energy storage “battery”, so there is no waste
• The battery does not require special insulation and operates at ambient temperatures and low
pressures
• It adapts well-proven industry-standard technology from other industries into its innovative
design
• It does not use “molten salt” energy storage technology, thus avoiding all the problems
associated with this system
• Lambent™ Solar Power Plants are suitable for installation in regions ranging from arid to semi-arid
to grassland savannah to anywhere where there is sufficient sunshine to “charge the battery”
• Lambent™ Solar Power Plants are suitable for remote mines, construction sites, rural towns and
cities, industries which require a guaranteed electrical power supply, additional but de-
centralised power supply to national grids, water desalination plants, universally compatible
support power installations to existing power generation plants, and so on.
Lambent™ Solar Power is a new South African organisation that has developed a “Base Case” for a
20MWe output CSP plant, including a minimum of 3 days of guaranteed output power at this rating,
regardless of weather conditions during those 3 days. The maximum storage period presently
being studied is 7 days.
The Base Case is designed at an overall efficiency that compares well with today’s norm in power
generation. The system involves a closed loop circuit with innovative solar thermal collectors as
energy input to the non-toxic energy storage process. For the output stage, a conventional steam -
generator drive is used.
The storage capacity can be increased to more than 72 hours of continuous power generation.
Once the energy storage “battery” is commissioned, no further addition of chemicals is required.
Based on preliminary calculations, an overall efficiency in the region of 25% to 28% will be
achieved.
Although the Base Case is for engineering design and costing purposes, the plant design is
scalable, such that these CSP plants in 5MW and 10MW increments can be readily designed and
constructed, with each plant including the 3-day minimum of guaranteed continuous power supply.
The specific power requirements of a client may require longer periods of guaranteed power, and
these can be accommodated.