4. Solar Energy system The Ivanpah Concentrating Solar Power Facility in the Mojave desert produces 392MW of gross power. The steam plant was designed for 28.72% gross efficiency. The local irradiance near the area is about 7.4kWh/m2/ day (annual average) for a total solar energy flow in the visible spectrum of 2.717MWh/m2 yearly. Some info: One heliostat mirror is a 75.6 square feet (7.02 m2) reflecting surface, giving a total of 151.2 square feet (14.05m2) per heliostat. The total plant heliostat reflecting surface results in 173,500 heliostats 14.05m2/ heliostat =2,437,144 m2. If the mirrors could always be perpendicular to Sun's ray, based on irradiance, the intercepted solar energy flow is 2.717MWh/m2/ year 2,437,144m2=6,621,720MWh yearly. (a) With this much in the visible spectrum, how much total solar energy flux is available? Why is this important? (b) The actual annual net output reported is 730GWh/ yearly. So what is the overall efficiency? Would it be better to just use solar photovoltaic? Please comment