Operation Diagram - Solana Generating Station: Therminol synthetic oil heats up as it travels through the receiver tubes of the parabolic trough solar thermal collectors. The hot oil is then used to generate steam to drive the turbine-generator. At times, some hot oil may be piped to a heat exchanger to transfer heat to molten salt. The hot molten salt is stored in the hot tank. When needed, the stored hot molten salt is used to heat oil to drive the turbine-generator. Solana uses a two-tank indirect system for thermal energy storage.
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