A new type of power plant harnesses the sun—and taxpayers.
Acciona, a Spanish conglomerate, is due to inaugurate a new power plant a few miles from Las Vegas. The technology it uses, known as "concentrating solar power" (CSP), is hot right now, as the Hollywood luminaries might put it.
This all sounds really nice,but now we take a look how this system works, and which advantages it has..
Acciona, a Spanish conglomerate, is due to inaugurate a new power plant a few miles from Las Vegas. The technology it uses, known as "concentrating solar power" (CSP), is hot right now, as the Hollywood luminaries might put it.
This all sounds really nice,but now we take a look how this system works, and which advantages it has..
Acciona's new plant, called "Nevada Solar One", can generate up to 64 megawatts (MW) - enough, it says, to power more than 14,000 homes. And.. More CSP plants, with a total capacity of 4,000MW, are in the pipeline and have signed contracts to sell their future output.
It looks like that those "powerplants" are going to be a big success!
As their name suggests, CSP plants generate electricity by concentrating the sun's rays, usually to boil water. The resulting steam drives turbines similar to those found at power plants that run on coal or natural gas. And there is not only one design, but there are more..
The Spanish plant uses a forest of smaller mirrors to focus light on a tower in their midst.
And what about pollution?
Solar power, of course, does not produce climate-changing greenhouse gases. But it also excites utilities because it generates the most power just when it is needed: on hot, sunny days when people turn on air conditioners.
But there is more. Some designs provide power round the clock, not just when the sun is shining, by storing energy in the form of molten salt. This means, that you don't really need the sun to provide solar power, which is offcourse a big advantage!
And maybe the most important thing, what does it cost?
CSP is still not as cheap as coal- or gas-fired plants, but in the long run, costs should come down.
And if fossil-fuel prices continue to increase and American power-plants have to start paying for their greenhouse-gas emissions, CSP might just achieve "grid parity" with the wholesale power price. That really would be an excuse for a party..
This kind of solar power, in a way that we didn't know it, is another great invention in our mission to use a much as possible green energy in this world. Offcourse we hope, and there's no doubt about it that, more of these inventions will follow...
SOURCE
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=8780295&story_id=10727996
It looks like that those "powerplants" are going to be a big success!
As their name suggests, CSP plants generate electricity by concentrating the sun's rays, usually to boil water. The resulting steam drives turbines similar to those found at power plants that run on coal or natural gas. And there is not only one design, but there are more..
The Spanish plant uses a forest of smaller mirrors to focus light on a tower in their midst.
And what about pollution?
Solar power, of course, does not produce climate-changing greenhouse gases. But it also excites utilities because it generates the most power just when it is needed: on hot, sunny days when people turn on air conditioners.
But there is more. Some designs provide power round the clock, not just when the sun is shining, by storing energy in the form of molten salt. This means, that you don't really need the sun to provide solar power, which is offcourse a big advantage!
And maybe the most important thing, what does it cost?
CSP is still not as cheap as coal- or gas-fired plants, but in the long run, costs should come down.
And if fossil-fuel prices continue to increase and American power-plants have to start paying for their greenhouse-gas emissions, CSP might just achieve "grid parity" with the wholesale power price. That really would be an excuse for a party..
This kind of solar power, in a way that we didn't know it, is another great invention in our mission to use a much as possible green energy in this world. Offcourse we hope, and there's no doubt about it that, more of these inventions will follow...
SOURCE
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=8780295&story_id=10727996
2 opmerkingen:
The more green projects there are and the less pollution there is, is good for our environment. With this project, there is another good invention to create a green world instead of a polluted world.
It's great that there are so much inventions about green energy, but as long as the price doesn't decrease people will chose for other energy sources which are cheaper but have an negative impact on the climate. Let us hope that the prices fall down quickly.
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