Jed, Does it count as a kill if there is no evidence left?
"Ivanpah employees and OLE staff noticed that close to the periphery of the tower and within the reflected solar field area, streams of smoke arise when an object crosses the solar flux fields aimed at the tower. Ivanpah employees use the term 'streamers' to characterize this occurrence. "When OLE staff visited the Ivanpah Solar plant, we observed many streamer events. It is claimed that these events represent the combustion of loose debris, or insects. Although some of the events are likely that, there were instances in which the amount of smoke produced by the ignition could only be explained by a larger flammable biomass such as a bird. Indeed, OLE staff observed birds entering the solar flux and igniting, consequently becoming a streamer. "OLE staff observed an average of one streamer event every two minutes. It appeared that the streamer events occurred more frequently within the 'cloud' area adjacent to the tower. Therefore we hypothesize that the 'cloud' has a very high temperature that is igniting all material that traverses its field." On Thu, Apr 10, 2014 at 10:04 AM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com>wrote: > See: > > > http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/04/concentrating-solar-power-under-fire-glaring-planning-oversight-or-easily-remedied-issue > > QUOTES > > [Clifford Ho of Sandia National Laboratories’ Concentrating Solar > Technologies Department says] “I believe some of the glare that’s being > viewed is taking place when the heliostats are in a standby mode.” > > During peak daylight hours, it is common for a number of heliostat mirrors > to be taken offline to prevent heliostats from directing more thermal > energy to the turbine than it is capable of receiving. Ho said that during > standby, these heliostats are focused on aim points next to the receiver, > forming a ring of glare above the tower. > > According to Ho, the sunlight reflected from heliostats that are in > standby mode could be having an exacerbating effect on the amount of > reflection being emitted. > > In examining photos of the glare taken by passengers flying over the > Ivanpah plant, Ho said it’s apparent to him the intense light is emanating > from the heliostats not in use. “You can clearly see the difference between > what’s just the diffuse reflection from the towers versus one or more > heliostats that are in standby mode and reflecting light toward the > observer.” > > Ho has performed helicopter surveys of heliostats in standby mode at > Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility. “It’s > bright,” he said, emphasizing that the Sandia CSP array is much smaller > than that of Ivanpah. “When you’re close, it can be like looking into the > sun.” > > . . . One possible solution, as suggested by Ho, is to reposition > heliostats that are in standby mode so that they stand vertically — thus > reflecting the glare toward the ground instead of upward. > > > - Jed > >
