Solar Power Becoming More Affordable 355
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.'"
Obvious to me... (Score:5, Interesting)
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?
Solar Energy - Been looking into this the past few (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Interesting use of the word ONLY (Score:2, Interesting)
This is why Solar isn't taking off! (Score:1, Interesting)
Take hydrogen. The day someone figures out how to easily produce hydrogen the days of energy monopolies are over - anyone with access to water (or whatever the raw material turns out to be) can do it.
Same with solar. If they got efficient solar panels so you could be energy self-sufficient there are a lot of people in power with a lot of money who no longer would be in control of the show.
Steve
Passive solar heating... (Score:3, Interesting)
What about in summer? The windows can be opened and replaced by screens or shaded.
-b.
Re:This is why Solar isn't taking off! (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
thermovoltaics (Score:3, Interesting)
Durability (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:The Forever Headline (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Obvious to me... (Score:2, Interesting)
We still need better inverters (Score:3, Interesting)
We still need better inverters. These are the devices that convert DC into AC for use by common appliances and to power your home. The ones designed for home operation are wimpy, apparently intended for a home where people trim back on using energy in electrical form, already. The ones designed specifically for the wide range of voltage change from photovoltaic arrays/strings are big expensive commercial units intended for selling power to utilities, or for the utilities to buy for themselves (they shut down and night and can't run from batteries very well).
I want to reduce my carbon footprint with emphasis on reducing use of fossil fuels in particular. I'm less concerned about burning wood than I am about burning gas (natural gas or liquified propane). So I'd like to run my kitchen from solar and wind generated electricity. That means I need on the order of 12 kW of power just for potential peak cooking. Add another 2 kW for microwave. Add some more watts for the blender, coffee maker, refrigerator, etc. It adds up.
One of the big makers of home inverters for general DC conversion (e.g. batteries charged from various sources) is Xantrex. But their largest unit in this market segment is only 5500 watts. Two of the North American 120 volt units can be "stacked" to get 120/240 volts, but that's still only 11 kW. Some other companies offer as much as 6000 watts in a single unit, and do not even appear to be "stackable". What we need is a line of inverters, each specifically designed for the various world power systems so people can use their common domestic appliances, but with a variety of power levels in many steps all the way up to 100 kW or more.
There is one technical issue with inverters, and this is not something that is easy to solve. It also exists to some extent with small generators. That issue is that under short circuit conditions, they produce only barely (about 15%) more current than their design rating. To many this might seem like a good thing. But it actually is a hazard. The reason is because short circuits will fail to trip home branch circuit breakers. A common circuit breaker rated for say 15 amps generally won't trip for a while under a 20 amp load, until its thermal element gets quite warm. For an instantaneous trip using its magnetic element, the current has to be significantly higher, like 150 amps or more. Utility power through a transformer can easily deliver several hundred amps under a short circuit condition. With hefty power lines and transformers these days, if you are close to the transformer, you could even get several thousand amps real close to the breaker panel. This is why if you have ever shorted out a power circuit, you get a nasty *POP*. That's some big amps followed by the breaker cutting the circuit off.
I've found some inverters that have circuit breakers on the output AC side that are rated at a higher amperage than the maximum they could deliver under a short circuit condition. In other words, short out the AC right after the circuit breaker and you can't even get enough juice to cause the breaker to kick off. The inverter itself may very well detect the overload and soon shut off.
Many appliances may not even work under this low fault current condition. Big motors can have trouble getting started if they can't pull 3 to 5 times the normal amperage for part or all of a second. And even some electronics wants that much power or more when you turn them on to charge up the power supply capacitors. One relative has found that his big screen TV, although using way less than the 5000 watts his generator can produce, just won't even turn on under the generator. When he turns it on with utility power, all the lights in the house dim significantly for just an instant as the monster sucks a huge number of amps.
Ultimately, if you want to power you whole home with AC power through an inverter that converts the DC stored in your batteries charged up from your solar and/or wind power sources, you'll need some hefty
Re:This is why Solar isn't taking off! (Score:1, Interesting)
winter season inefficiency (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Passive solar heating... (Score:3, Interesting)
Not necessarily. Besides, the suburban houses that are being barfed up by builders there days are cheaply built and ugly. Yay for particleboard (not the good kind!) roof beams. How they get some of that stuff past the inspectors I can only guess.
2 - They require more land than the typical suburbian/urban lot offers.
Incorrect. We had a 1200 sq ft beach house on a *tiny* (read: a 15' x 15' patio in back and 6' on either side of the house) lot. It had a glazed front porce and lots of south-facing glass. The temp of the place didn't drop below 55-60F in winter without heat.
3 - Actually paying for low-e glass + correct design + insulation is expensive! They would rather have cherry cabinets, stone fireplaces with a plasma TV above it than energy efficiency.
Unfortunately true. Consumers are mostly retarded. A lot of builders are greedy SOBs that would build out of sawdust and ducttape if they could.
6 - efficient designs are hard to get approved by the association... Any home that looks different is considered ugly.
Fortunately, associations don't have power in all places. Some states have even legally curtailed their power pretty severely. Personally, if I own the land, I should be able to build whatever I want on it within the limits of zoning at the time when the land was purchased. Anyone who says otherwise deserves to get thrown into the swamps with a pair of concrete boots and no lifejacket :)
The common person cant have an efficient home, they cant afford it. Jsut like solar and alternative energy. No average joe can float $5000-8000 for a basic solar install that will pay back in 10 years saving few dollars here and there.
Nah, they don't want to afford it. They'd rather pay $40000 for the latest monster truck or whatever the fad of the day is. And they'd also be able to have a more energy efficient home if they were willing to live in a smaller place. Say, 1200 or 1500 sq. ft., not the 3000 sq. ft. cardboard boxes that are going up now. I'm not talking about major changes here, BTW, just efficient use of glass and thermal storage materials (which can very well be concrete covered with a stone or brick facade, BTW).
-b.
Energy Innovations has been there, done that (Score:2, Interesting)
Energy Innovations [energyinnovations.com] has tried Fresnel and is working on mechanically steered 5x5 set of mirrors.
Your box sounds promising but a grid of them requires an elaborate supporting frame? The Energy Innovations Sunflower 250 [energyinnovations.com] lies flat on the roof. Your water heat collector adds expense.
Solar Power still Useless (Score:3, Interesting)
Solar power isn't a solution. Its a distraction. It lets politicians and others pretend that they are doing something about serious energy questions instead of making unpopular, real-world choices.