The sun in the UAE can be used to generate a huge amount of technology; but what happens at night?
Traditionally, no sun meant no power. But now the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Complex in Dubai has plans to use the heat generated by the sun during the day, to power the city at night.
It is another boon in the UAE’s mission to become more sustainable. The enormous solar complex in Dubai has tapped up one of Sweden’s top environmental energy companies Azelio AB to help supply the new technology.
The technology is rather complex, but simple to understand: during the day a huge block of recycled aluminum will be superheated to 600 degrees Celsius, then a huge Stirling engine (which makes use of the compression and expansion of hot air) creates power during the evening.
“Our long-duration energy storage can make solar power available around the clock in an affordable way,” Jonas Eklind, chief executive officer of Azelio said in the statement to Arabian Business.
While the prices of huge megawatt batteries continue to go down, trying to store all the available power from the sun during the day (to be used during the night) is still a huge challenge.
However this new technology would allow a steady stream of clean solar energy, when the sun is shining and even when its not.
Esquire now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit ‘Like’ on our Esquire Facebook page and ‘Follow’ on our @esquiremiddleeast Instagram and Twitter account.
