Skip to main content

An Italian company is turning hot sand into clean energy


The same heat that burns your feet when you walk on sand could be the key to making clean energy and endless electricity. An Italian firm, Magaldi Group, is doing so by using sand as a storage system to eventually concentrate solar energy.
Heliostats capture sun rays and reflect them onto a large mirror, which then redirects the sunlight into a cylindrical steel container filled with sand. Here, sand is exposed to temperatures of over 600 degrees C. The hot sand then produces steam which generates electricity. 
The company, from Salerno, developed Stem (Solare Termodinamico Magaldi / Solar Thermo Electric Magaldi), and aims to expand over Italy and all other countries with high solar concentration.
"We represent an alternative to other kinds of renewable energy,” said Letizia Magaldi, manager at Magaldi Group and daughter of its founder Mario. “Compared to solar panels, Stem can also produce energy at high temperatures and also when there is no sun. It’s a solar battery."
"The system allows for energy to be produced also at night time. It also uses materials that are compatible with the environment, which makes it eco-friendly as well."
 Magaldi Group has a background in industrial installation for the handling of high temperature materials.
"We are investing in young people, on patents, research, and development," said Magaldi.
A2a company, who invested in Stem, is using it in the integrated energy pole in San Filippo del Mela, in the Messina province of Sicily. The company has signed an agreement with Magaldi group to buy more "Stems" to be installed in other sites.
"We aim to replicate the project with A2a and then produce electrical energy wherever there’s sun – in places like Sub Saharan Africa, the United States or South Europe. The potential is enormous as production doesn’t stop at night time."
One Stem can make 500 kWh, which is equal to the daily intake for 200 families in two hectares of land (which would be almost 5 acres).
Claudia Romeo contributed to the translation of this article, which original appeared at BI Italia.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jailbreak: FG pledges to relocate correctional centers

  Jailbreak: FG pledges to relocate correctional centers Published   on   April 26, 2024 By   Esther Chisom Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre. DAILY POST recalls that 119 inmates escaped from the prison following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday. The minister said it was imperative to relocate a lot of the correctional centres to a more conducive environment. “This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates; before this incident, we had 499. “This is a testimony to what we keep talking about the overcrowding of our correctional centres. “You can look at the environment, it shows that we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, better security, and better infrastructure,” he said in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Mr Ozoya Imohimi. Tunji-Ojo said the ministry is already working behind the scenes to build a be...
Post a Comment
Read more

FG set to deploy first batch of CNG vehicles ahead of Tinubu's one year in office come 29th May 2024

  FG announce plans to deploy the first batch of CNG Vehicles ahead of first anniversary of Tinubu in office on May 29th 2024. Said N100 billion was allocated to purchase 5,500 CNG vehicles, 100 electric buses, and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits. Deployment of CNG vehicles is parts of FG’s vision to have at least one million natural gas propelled vehicles on the roads by 2027. The Federal Government has announced plans to start the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses and tricycles   for mass transit ahead of Tinubu administration’s first anniversary on May 29th. The move was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Sunday April 21st 2024. According to him, the Federal Government allocated N100 billion last year to purchase 5,500 CNG-powered vehicles (buses and tricycles), 100 electric buses, and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits. The funding, which is part of the N500 billion palliative budget, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jonathan Opens Up: "Why I Don’t Want To Testify For Metuh"

An application filed by former President Goodluck Jonathan before the Federal High Court in Abuja has revealed further reasons why he wants to be excused from appearing as a witness in defence of a former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh. Metuh is standing trial on charges involving, among others, the N400m he (Metuh) received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014. The former President in his motion challenging the subpoena issued on him, stated that with “with several attempts by some persons in the current dispensation, to harass, intimidate and rubbish” his reputation and that of his wife, the witness summon issued on him upon Metuh’s request was a ploy to drag his name in the mud. He also argued in the motion filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Monday, that his testimony being sought in Metuh’s trial, would not only amount to an invasion of his right to privacy, it would also expose him to a cri...
Post a Comment
Read more