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Morocco's Solar Power Mega-Project (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Morocco, located along the northwestern African coast, is in prime position to take advantage of solar technology, and they've committed to one of the biggest such projects in the world. The city of Ouarzazate will host "a complex of four linked solar mega-plants that, alongside hydro and wind, will help provide nearly half of Morocco's electricity from renewables by 2020." It will be the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world. "The mirror technology it uses is less widespread and more expensive than the photovoltaic panels that are now familiar on roofs the world over, but it will have the advantage of being able to continue producing power even after the sun goes down." The first phase of the project, called Noor 1, comprises 500,000 solar mirrors that track the sun throughout the day, with a maximum capacity of 160MW. When the full project finishes, it will be able to generate up to 580MW. "Each parabolic mirror is 12 meters high and focused on a steel pipeline carrying a 'heat transfer solution' (HTF) that is warmed to 393C as it snakes along the trough before coiling into a heat engine. There, it is mixed with water to create steam that turns energy-generating turbines."
Original names and full background of funders anyone?
Coal or nuclear, or GTFO!
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Well if we have those, we should skip all the rest and just focus (ha ha) on these turbines?
Oh, you mean energy converting turbines?
just for context, 580 MW is the power output of a single medium-sized natural gas power plant. I'm a big fan of solar, and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and all that, but they've got a long way to go to make a dent in regional energy needs.
also, $9B for 580 MW comes out to ~$15/W, which is a pretty steep capex (but with hopefully minimal opex due to not needing fuel). Compare to non-thermal PV solar, with installed capex cost of say $2/W and no/fewer moving parts (so les opex, although not capable of storing/delivering energy after dark unless coupled to a battery system of some sort).
It is in an environment which will be naturally tough on the system. While capex is crazy high it will be interesting to see how it stacks up cost wise over a 50 year life span. It may be the as we get better at building these sytems and production infrastructure scales that this type of plant could deliver a decent cost per watt.
It is interesting that this implementation will use a "heat transfer solution" (HTF) instead of the much more common "heat transfer fluid" (HTS).
This project sounds very much like PORK
Instead of the tried and true solar panels they opted for a more costly project which uses complicated sounding stuffs like 'heat transfer solution' which has to 'snakes along the trough' and then ended up mixing with water - which in itself a rare commodity in the Moroccan desert - which then 'turns into steam' to power the turbine
Haven't they heard of battery and/or ultra capacitors which can easily store up energy and release it when needed?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Wow!
Fools run amok!
ha ha
"The mirror technology it uses is less widespread and more expensive than the photovoltaic panels that are now familiar on roofs the world over, but it will have the advantage of being able to continue producing power even after the sun goes down."
Its not the mirror "technology". Its a design shift - heating up Salt and using a phase change to one' s advantage instead of knocking electrons off Silicon. Why would you write something so unclear and misleading?
Morocco, located along the northwestern African coast
I'm guessing that anyone who has to be told where Morocco is will also need to be told where the northwestern African coast is. :p
Not really. Heat can be useful on it's own. For example a co-generation plant in Australia uses low levels of heat to warm water for an aquaculture project.
Storing as heat gives you plenty of options of what to do with it, as well as potentially providing large scale storage for far more capacity than could be gained for the same cost with batteries or capacitors even if it is far more lossy than either.
Another example is offshore windmills producing compressed air stored in underwater balloons (or in salt mines on land). The storage cost is potentially dirt cheap which outweighs the very lossy conversion to electricity.
You probably know all this, but equating all of the above to batteries just dumbs the entire discussion down to "why not use batteries", which is not something for this time when batteries still suck (just a lot less than they used to).
Sounds pretty cool! Except... do we really want something like Archimedes left in Moroccan hands? I wouldn't even want the Brotherhood in sole control of it!
It does not end well for the power plant owner and the warlord.
These types of projects in Morocco are characterized by high levels of opacity. A few years ago, the king of Morocco (basically an absolute ruler, with strong hints of theocracy) signed a deal to buy a high-speed train from France. The construction is ongoing, but one is hard pressed to justify such a luxury in a country with 50% illiteracy. Even compared to Arab countries (the ruling elite is self-described Arab, and the imposed religious doctrine is Islam), Morocco trails such rankings. Morocco is last in the world in terms of religious diversity (~99% Muslim and people who wish to convert are prosecuted).
This is yet-another-toy that the king (and his entourage) are buying with tax-payer money more for bragging rights than for actual utility. Then again, the royal house officially gets 300 million dollars per year from the state (despite their mind-boggling wealth).
Isolating this stuff is a million-year commitment. It is unbelievably toxic. Inhale a plutonium particle of just 16 micrograms, and you will absolutely, positively die.
https://books.google.com/books?id=PwsAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=how+much+plutonium+is+fatal&source=bl&ots=iApkcgQYg7&sig=TppHakQ6joNpRZEzlEq1j6TfCtc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBWoVChMIj83o0OXiyAIVCGk-Ch0nxgIV#v=onepage&q=how%20much%20plutonium%20is%20fatal&f=false
And nowhere do i see a comment about the preposterousness that 580MW will be enough to power "one millon households". it will be enough for maybe 100000 decent homes, the rest barely even have access to the electric grid.
available in the Sahara could provide Europe with power and the countries in the Sahara with money and jobs. These countries should also consider home solar.