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Solar Power Becoming More Affordable
prostoalex writes "With both startups and large companies such as Boeing working on solar power, the technology is becoming more affordable, MIT Technology Review says. Solar power concentrators are all in rage now: 'The thinking behind concentrated solar power is simple. Because energy from the sun, although abundant, is diffuse, generating one gigawatt of power (the size of a typical utility-scale plant) using traditional photovoltaics requires a four-square-mile area of silicon, says Jerry Olson, a research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, CO. A concentrator system, he says, would replace most of the silicon with plastic or glass lenses or metal reflectors, requiring only as much semiconductor material as it would take to cover an area the size of a typical backyard. And because decreasing the amount of semiconductor needed makes it affordable to use much more efficient types of solar cells, the total footprint of the plant, including the reflectors or lenses, would be only two to two-and-a-half square miles.'"
Why all the talk of centralized power generation?
:p) energy would a fraction of what it is now.
Solar panels are the way to put power generation into the hands of the people. When I look out at all the rooftops in the area - houses, office buildings, Super S-Marts and their enormous un-covered parking lots, all I can think of is if every one of those surfaces had a single solar panel our energy demands from centralized (corporate
Have we learned nothing from decentralized computing?
years. One of the major problems of concentrated solar power is the heat - normal photovoltaics would melt. The benefit is that concentrated light also has better efficiency than the normal ~10-22% of normal solar power. One of the traditional ways around the heat problem wasn't to use a photovoltacic as all. An energy farm in Australia uses dishes to focus the light and at the focal point places a stirling engine, with only the heat powering it. Interesting stuff. I hope to have my own workable solar power system power my property one of these days.
Then again, they could just reorganize and move into the manufacturing and maintenance side of things. Someone will have to fix and maintain the solar homepower systems ultimately. The one major advantage of having a power distribution grid, though, is the ability to redistribute power. If Sunville, AZ is having a month of sun with no clouds, and it has been cloudy for a month in Bad Ass, MS, the energy can be redistributed so that all of the Badassian's batteries don't run down.
-b.
One thing I really wish would happen is that the efficiency of thermovoltaic technology could somehow be improved... Think about how much energy is wasted as heat; eventually all of it, I suppose. I actually heat my bedroom in the winter with my PC. When I read about large scale solar facilities, I can't help but wonder at the losses in heat that are going on there. There are more efficient ways of utilizing solar power right now anyway: http://www.stirlingenergy.com/ comes to mind... and they work pretty well. It would be nice, however, to move the technology to solid state like we have with photovoltaic cells; That way we could apply them to things like brake shoes on cars, the condensers on refrigerators and air conditioners, etc... -Photovoltaic paint has been invented, but is not realistic yet. I think that's where the future is: Objects that need electricity should become more efficient, and should have photo/thermovoltaic technology built right into them.
-ubuntu others as you would have others ubuntu you.
Part of the problem is the durability of these panels. The affordable ones have relatively short lifespans (under 10 years, and at that point, still haven't saved enough to justify their cost). The ones that ARE durable enough to last longer are hideously expensive, and not the sort of thing most people have the cash for.
Also, there's the fact that solar power is not a viable solution everywhere in the world. Sure, in Arizona, California, etc, it is a wonderful "free energy" thing.
In Pacific Northwest, the northern Midwest, etc, especially during the winter months, solar power is a complete non-option.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
The solar electricity is simply profitable.
Not without tax breaks, it's not, at least for older tech. The Stirling generators that are intended for the SDG&E project (and which are also planned for a 500MW facility near Victorville) may change that, but we'll have to see how they handle the weather conditions here (as opposed to New Mexico) over the long term. And while the deal may be huge in terms of solar, it's really not that large when put in perspective with other plants, where 500MW-600MW plant construction is not terribly uncommon.
The solar tower is interesting, but it's been years since they announced it, and they don't even have all of the permits yet. I question the efficiency of land use as well -- 9400 acres for 200MW, compared to 4500 acres for 500MW for the Victor Valley project I mentioned above and between 2500 and 1600 acres for 1000MW for the setup in TFA. They claim a construction cost of less than US$200M, but I would not be at all surprised if they miss their mark significantly.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.