[E&E seminars] Tomorrow: MITEI Seminar Series: Jacob Karni - The Next Phase in Large-Scale Solar Thermal Power Generation

[Jameson Twomey]

This is just a friendly reminder that MIT Energy Initiative's  
2009-2010 Seminar Series kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6 with  
Jacob Karni of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Each month, MITEI  
will host an expert from a different area of the energy field. Please  
watch this space for further updates on this year's series, or peruse  
last year's popular lineup here. We hope to see you tomorrow!



The Next Phase in Large-Scale Solar Thermal Power Generation

Jacob Karni



Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Lecture at 4:15 PM

Reception follows



Room 66-110, Landau Building

25 Ames Street

Massachusetts Institute of Technology



Abstract

Demand for power and renewable-friendly policies have created  
opportunities and encouraged the development of other solar  
technologies for large-scale applications.

Large plants based on photovoltaic (PV), concentrated PV, Linear  
Fresnel Reflectors, Central Receivers (solar tower) and Dish  
Concentrators are proposed. However, Trough systems are used in most  
of the 50MW or larger solar plants built over the last few years,  
presently in construction, or planned for the next few years.

− Will Trough remain the dominant large-scale solar technology?

− Can any solar system ever reach cost parity with conventional power  
plants?

− Can solar energy be stored and transported so it could be used at  
times and places with little or no sunlight, and for powering motor  
vehicles?

− What would it take for solar to become a major player in the power  
industry?

These are some of the fundamental questions we must answer and  
demonstrate in the near future. We will look at several proposed  
methods, attempt to provide criteria for evaluating them and suggest  
some possible answers.

About the Speaker

Jacob Karni was Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering  
Dept. of SUNY at Stony Brook, N.Y. from 1984 to 1989 and has been at  
the Weizmann Institute since 1989. He was a visiting professor at the  
University of Minnesota in the summers of 1994 and 1996, and at Johns  
Hopkins University in the 1998-98 school year. Between 2002 and 2008  
Prof. Karni was the head the Weizmann’s Energy Center. Since 2008 he  
has been the Chief Technology Officer of HelioFocus Ltd.

Karni's research centers on the utilization of concentrated solar  
energy. He is interested in the development of new methods for  
concentration, absorption, conversion, transmission and storage of  
concentrated solar energy, and implementing these methods in genuine  
solar power-conversion systems. Together with several outstanding co- 
workers, Karni developed several novel solar receivers capable of  
working at high temperature and highly concentrated sunlight, while  
supplying heat to drive heat engines or thermo-chemical reactions.  
Together with a colleague, he also pioneered a novel concentrated  
photovoltaic system.

Prof. Karni's research group is now working on a new method for using  
solar energy to produce non-polluting fuels; the main effort is on one- 
step – separated or simultaneous – dissociation of carbon dioxide  
and water at high temperature.


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