Interesting. Researching google indicates that the mirrors are somewhat problematic:
http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/solar_field.html (see hyperlinks). The most common cause of breakage is wind loading. Breakage also comes from failure of the adhesive to the steel. Another source is failure during cleaning since the glass is only 4 mm thick. I wonder if that comes with the standard 7 years of bad luck or if it is more focused. ;-) Terry On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 9:55 PM, Stephen A. Lawrence<[email protected]> wrote: > > > Jed Rothwell wrote: >> >> I hate to use Wikipedia, but this photo shows damaged mirrors, which >> indicate the limits of the technology (the lifetime of the installation): >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solarplant-050406-05.jpg > Weird! What on Earth happened to them? It looks like somebody dropped > a handful of rocks on the installation from a few hundred feet above it. > > Shards of the broken mirrors are lying around on the ground at two or > three of the larger damage points. > >
