Slashdot Mirror
India To Build World's Largest Solar Plant
ananyo writes "India has pledged to build the world's most powerful solar plant. With a nominal capacity of 4,000 megawatts, comparable to that of four full-size nuclear reactors, the 'ultra mega' project will be more than ten times larger than any other solar project built so far, and it will spread over 77 square kilometres of land — greater than the island of Manhattan. Six state-owned companies have formed a joint venture to execute the project, which they say can be completed in seven years at a projected cost of US$4.4 billion. The proposed location is near Sambhar Salt Lake in the northern state of Rajasthan."
I wonder if those estimates include the transmission infrastructure to carry the electricity to high usage areas? The Wind Farm rush of West Texas had every energy company throwing up wind turbines to get the government subsidies. Next thing you knew there was more power generation in West Texas than the transmissions lines could carry back to Dallas where it was needed. The cost of storing electricity is more than it is worth so large amounts of electricity were being shunted directly into the ground while E.R.C.O.T. decided how to build out the new transmission lines. That project alone took 5 years and cost around 4 Billion.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
To be fair a big chunk of Pakistan is a tribal area that was never run by the English and is certainly never been run by a Pakistani government.
Before you knock it consider how close it is to what many of the "libertarians" on this site are asking for.