The El Paso Solar Pond project is a research, development, and demonstration project initiated by the University of Texas at El Paso in 1983. It has operated since May 1986 and has successfully shown that process heat, electricity, and fresh water can be produced in the southwestern United States using solar pond technology.
Yes, the Solar Pond even holds heat when frozen. This photo was taken in the early 90's and has been redone to look like the next photo.
Construction
The El Paso Solar Pond project began when the University of Texas at El Paso discovered an existing 3350 square meter (0.8 acre), 3 meter (10 feet) deep pond located at Bruce Foods, a canning plant in northeast El Paso, Texas. The lined pond was used by the previous owner as a source of water for fire protection, but a connection to the city water supply by Bruce Foods eliminated the need for the pond. Support was obtained from the Department of the Interior - Bureau of Reclamation, Bruce Foods, and El Paso Electric Company to convert the existing storage pond to a solar pond. Construction began in early 1985, and by spring of that year, a new liner had been placed over the existing one, evaporation ponds (for recycling salt) had been constructed, and inlet and discharge diffusers to deliver hot brine from the pond bottom had been built. Wave suppression nets and an instrumentation tower were also installed. The salt gradient was established and the pond storage zone temperature rose rapidly. Following construction and initial operation of the pond, project emphasis expanded to include useful applications.
A New Look
The Solar Pond as it looks today.
UTEP Solar Pond
Photo shows Wave Suppression Nets that help control the wind from mixing upper zone.
Over 90 graduate and undergraduate students have been involved in the project, performing tasks ranging from construction to applied research. In addition, numerous students have done projects related to the pond, gaining valuable experience in equipment design and construction, lab techniques, problem solving, instrumentation, and documentation. The solar pond provides a unique opportunity to do research in such areas as double diffusive convection, wind/wave interaction, flow in stratified fluids, and computer modeling. In addition, the state of the art equipment on site provides an excellent opportunity for energy efficiency studies, cost analysis, system studies, heat exchanger