Solar electric at 50% efficiency?

Just a thought ...

Has anyone tried using solar thermal power as a pre-heater for thermal
power stations (gas or coal?)

Imagine a 20 Hectare solar collector field supplying about 200MW of
heat. This is used to preheat air and natural gas, prior to combustion
in gas turbines.

Input: 200MW solar and 800MW gas
Output: 500MW electric

Advantages:

- The heat is converted to electricity at an effective efficiency of
that of the plant, about 50% for gas turbines.
- The circulatory fluid is only heated to about 200-300C - quite
manageable with limited losses
- The heat can be stored in a molten salt and released when there's no
sun

Any problems with this?
.

Relevant Pages

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