WSP01480

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 1/1/1981
• Title: Solar Ponds
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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QO A 150 kilowatt Ormat plant was dedicated at Ein Bokek on the Dead Sea on

December 16, 1979. The pond covers an area of 6500 square meters (70,000

square feet), is 2.5 meters (8 feet) deep, and has a bottom temperature of

about BOoC (1760F), The pond is intended to supply electricity and/or

cooling to a nearby resort hotel. As a novel energy-producing device, it

also is attracting the attention of tourists.

Orrnat is now developing the technology for a 5 megawatt (MW) solar pond

power station. The technology will be used for both a Salton Sea

(California) prototype and a power station to be in operation in 1982 on

the Dead Sea. The station is the next logical step to the 20- to 50-MW

module. It is estimated that the cumulative generating capacity of a set

of modules at the Dead Sea will approach 2000 MW (output equivalent to two

large nuclear generating stations).

Several non-convective, salt gradient solar pond projects are also under

way in the United States. These include two in Columbus, Ohio, and one

each in Miarnisburg, Ohio; Wooster, Ohio; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boulder

City, Nevada; and Warrenton, Virginia. The largest of these, the 2000-

square-meter (21,500 square feet) Miarnisburg pond, is being used to heat a

municipal recreational building and swimming pool.

ECONOMICS

Solar pond economics depend upon a variety of factors including pond con-

struction and operating costs, site costs, pond efficiency, and, of course,

solar flux. Construction costs are easy to estimate because all of the

pond components are readily available; these cost components include:

excavation, liner, salt, and heat exchanger.

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