Solar power plants made from mirror balloons

Advantages of mirror balloons vs traditional solar panels

• cost to make and install
• weight – could feasibly be flown above cloud level
• moveable – can follow the sun for maximum efficiency
• floatable – can be sited on water without additional structures
• economy – produce energy and heat at much lower cost
  

Read on to find out the research happening to make this a reality.
What is a mirror balloon?
Mirror balloons, as the name implies, work just like a mirror, focusing solar energy which turns into electricity or heat 300-550 ºC
If we fill a similar balloon with air its inner mirror surface becomes concave and therefore it focuses the solar radiation.
It is obvious that balloons are radically cheaper than similar metal and glass mirror structures which turn solar energy into electricity in two minutes
Other examples of cheap mirror balloons, One of the American companies makes a balloon which consists of transparent film on one side and reflective film on the other.
They proposed to build such a power plant where the mirror surface of their balloon focuses the solar radiation on this small solar panel.
The cost could be about one dollar per square meter of mirror and it is able to withstand strong winds.
The video above is from a Ukranian scientist and his work is currently on hold owing to the Russian invasion of his country but he has many great ideas and plans.
He hopes to make a similar mirror balloon for the trapezoid heaters which should turn according to the movement of the sun across the sky.
The mirror surface of the balloon and this is a receiver which will produce not electricity but heat with a temperature of 300 or 400 degrees celsius.
Sergiy Yurko hopes to achieve a cost of household heat half a cent per kilowatt hour and that is approximately 10 times cheaper than the cost of heat from natural gas.
in addition this cheap thermal energy could be used to generate very cheap solar electricity through the methods of such solar power plants.
Vast solar energy from these mirrors heats thermal oil inside the receivers to almost 400 degrees celsius then the thermal energy of the oil produces steam for a turbine with an electric generator or is stored to produce electricity at night.
He hopes the lifespan of our balloon would be about two years and the total cost of its replacement two or three dollars per square meter of mirror.
This cost is related to this part of our soil heater and it will be cheaper compared to the traditional glass or metal mirrors. The weight of our mirror balloons is radically lighter.
Also wind loads would be noticeably less because he could remove the air from the balloon before hurricane and it is obvious that some kind of device to quickly destroy the balloon would be necessary in case of a sudden gust of strong wind.
Solar heated balloons turn to follow the sun
A second example from an Austrian company works in a similar way to this balloon. Solar heaters turn according to the movement of the sun across the sky.
This Austrian long balloon is divided into two chambers by mirror film which focuses solar radiation on a receiver and the pressure of this chamber is slightly higher than this.
The receiver is filled with heat transfer fluid which can be heated by solar energy to a temperature of almost 600 degrees celsius and transfers the energy into heat storage.
The thermal energy of this heat storage can be used to generate electricity both day and night 24 hours a day in addition to generating steam for electricity.
The Austrians offer these uses including water desalination heat for industrial processes solar cooling.
Remember the Americans used cheap and thin films while the Austrians make balloons from durable films with a long lifespan.
That is why the Austrian idea is a great goal and would lead to the cost of solar heat of half a cent per kilowatt hour.
This could reduce the total cost of the solar heat to 50 dollars per square meter.
In another example where sun rays are focused in this way a balloon is used for sea water desalination but it is obvious that here we can heat water or oil to high temperatures.
Similar balloons are also used in solar cookers that anyone can buy. A camping solar cooker may be small but filling it with air makes it capable of focusing solar energy to cook or heat food.
In addition we know about different ideas when balloons rise above the ground possibly above the clouds however most often these balloons are the location of solar panels not mirrors.
Is it feasible to raise balloons above the clouds to drastically reduce the number of cloudy hours.
Locating balloons on water may seem interesting especially in combination with the idea of solar power plants on the surface of water.
Currently power plants are placed on a lot of expensive floats. However a balloon is already able to float.
Another benefit is balloons can have simple and cheap devices for turning them in order to orient their mirror surfaces towards the sun.
This would lead to an additional reduction in the cost of the systems for turning our mirrors.
Another huge advantage of these balloons over traditional solar panels is there is far less waste produced. Traditional solar panels contain scarce resources like silicon and this needs to be recycled.
You may think of balloons as something for a kids party but with further research and development they could answer many problems in the world going forward.
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