concentrating solar power

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Sandia creates global archive of historical renewable energy documents
October 6, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories began studying the power of the sun to produce utility-scale energy in the 1960s. Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility was commissioned in 1978, spurred by the oil crisis of 1973. Many of the documents detailing the design, construction and research conducted at the...
Categories: History, Renewable energy
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Two people look at blueprints with Sandia's Solar Tower looming large above.

Here comes the sun: Tethered-balloon tests ensure safety of new solar-power technology
April 22, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — What do tiny dust particles, 22-foot-wide red balloons and “concentrated” sunlight have in common? Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories recently used 22-foot-wide tethered balloons to collect samples of airborne dust particles to ensure the safety of an emerging solar-power technology. The study determined that the dust created...
Categories: Climate Change, Energy / Environment / Water, Renewable energy
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Two small balloons against a blue sky to the left of a large tower with a

Turning up the heat on molten salt valves
October 5, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is partnering with Flowserve Corp. and Kairos Power LLC on a $2.5 million, three-year Department of Energy Advanced Valve Project grant to lower the cost and boost the efficiency of concentrating solar power in the U.S. Control valves are a critical link in managing...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Renewable energy, Science / Technology / Engineering, Technology transfer / Economic Impact
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Armijo at Molten Salt Test Loop

From concept to commercialization: 40 years of concentrating solar power research
July 26, 2018, Media Advisory • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — From testing space shuttle tiles to making electricity from sunlight, the world’s first multimegawatt solar tower has contributed to energy research, space exploration, defense testing and solar energy commercialization since it was commissioned at Sandia National Laboratories in July 1978. The solar tower is a key component...
Categories: History, Renewable energy
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Historical sepia toned photo of a crowd looking at the Solar Tower.

Raising the heat to lower the cost of solar energy
May 21, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories will receive $10.5 million from the Department of Energy to research and design a cheaper and more efficient solar energy system. The work focuses on refining a specific type of utility-scale solar energy technology that uses mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Renewable energy, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Falling particle receiver video

Testing heats up at Sandia’s Solar Tower with high temperature falling particle receiver
July 1, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are working to lower the cost of solar energy systems and improve efficiencies in a big way, thanks to a system of small particles. This month, engineers lifted Sandia’s continuously recirculating falling particle receiver to the top of the tower at the...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Renewable energy
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Receiver on tower

Sandia Labs harnessing the sun’s energy with tiny particles
September 16, 2013, Media Advisory • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, along with partner institutions Georgia Tech, Bucknell University, King Saud University and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are using a falling particle receiver to more efficiently convert the sun’s energy to electricity in large-scale, concentrating solar power plants. Falling particle receiver technology...
Categories: Renewable energy, Science / Technology / Engineering
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Falling particle receiver

Solar test facility upgrades complete, lead to better capabilities at Sandia for power industry
November 13, 2012 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A recent overhaul of the Department of Energy’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility, operated by Sandia National Laboratories, is dramatically improving researchers’ ability to understand and use concentrating solar power. The $17.8 million upgrade to the NSTTF adds state-of-the-art test capabilities, and the resulting research is expected...
Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Renewable energy
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Molten Salt Test Loop