German and Algerian Researchers Collaborate Over Large-Scale Solar Thermal Power
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 03.24.08
Solar thermal really does seem to be enjoying a major renaissance right now – from $1.24 billion plants in Spain, to claims that the technology could provide 90% of US electricy needs around the clock, it’s not hard to see why folks might be interested. Now we hear from Renewable Energy Access that researchers in Germany and Algeria are collaborating to speed up the market introduction of large-scale solar thermal plants that could supply up to 200mw of electricity, while sumltaneously desalinating enough water for 50,000 people:
“Electricity from solar thermal plants currently costs €0.20 to 0.30/kWh [US $0.31 to 0.47/kWh], depending on the location of the plant and the amount of sunshine it receives. But with improvements in the performance of plants and better sites, solar thermal electricity could soon be cheaper than coal, and so generate huge amounts of reliable, clean electricity in hot desert regions, Milow said.
Even factoring in high steel prices and other costs, a kWh of electricity could still be as low as €0.06-0.07/kWh [US $0.09-0.11/kWh] if the power plants are in prime locations, Milow said.”
::Renewable Energy Access::via site visit::
good innit? using spare energy for desalination is one of the obvous ways of matching supply to demand that i have long thought would be sensible here for wind power too.
we will need a europe wide high voltage d/c grid to go with it.
here's the north africa grand plan;
http://www.desertec.org/concept.html
and scientific american worked out one for the U.S.;
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan
The more North African countries do now to wean themselves off oil now the better off they're going to be in the long run.
A scheme like this could be the perfect opportunity.
If there's one thing that North Africa has in abundance it's sun energy and huge tracts of arid, empty land.
And if there's one thing it desperately needs its more fresh, clean water.
I don't understand why they're spaced so far apart. Seems like you could fit twice the units in there.
The fact alone that German and Algerian researchers were able to collaborate on a project of such scale is not only very telling, but also extremely promising.
Josh V:
They're spaced apart to allow the sun to hit more of them at steeper angles. You don't want the shadow of one to block out the others.
they're concave though. the rim of one would meet up with the one next to it. same height. I don't see how it would block anything. I see much more well-lit sand than that which is shaded by the solar collectors. I mean, unless they need to periodically run trucks between them or something, it seems like this should just be a field of mirrors.
This is great news! Thanks for keeping us updated on the only clean-energy technology with the near-term potential to match coal in price and scale!
Lauren Guite
Environmental Defense Fund
Josh V:
As the sun lowers in the sky toward the horizon at the end of the day, objects of the same height will start to cast a shadow on each other. The further apart they are, the lower to the horizon the sun gets before they shade each other. The sun is weaker as it gets closer to the horizon, but if the equipment is there to capture it, you want every last photon ;-)
Don't forget you need to be able to get equipment in between them to both build them and maintain them.
It sounds like these reflectors will be located on pretty arid land. However, if there is any rainfall, besides capturing the suns energy, the reflectors could capture any rain and store the rain in a trough below the reflectors and then grow hydroponic vegetables above the trough. And or, use some of the desalinated water to grow the greens. This would be a better use of all that space, and create another income for a quicker pay back and lower energy costs to the public.