Re: A world-changing event

In article <ctfrf19070j2q01bc56m3n1o7tva580puc@xxxxxxx>,
meynier.cyril@xxxxxxxxxx says...
>
> - SCE won't have to wait until 2011 to get some "juice" : electricity
> will be injected into the grid as soon as the first dish is built.
> This is a positive result of the modular conception.

The same would apply to things like wind turbines.

> - This modular conception is also nice for reliability. Some dishes
> can be outline, this don't affect the other ones. If they have some
> redondancy in in grid-connection systems, they'll get an very high
> availability ratyio.

Yes, though their capacity is obviously somewhat constrained, they
should be available pretty reliably. One imagines that there should be
plenty of time to maintain them at night. It would be good to think
about something that you an do with them at night. Believe it or not,
some of these solar concentrators are actually suitable to collecting
radio signals too, though I doubt that would be a major use. BTW, I
wonder how durable these dishes will be in a wind storm. That's
something they worry about with radio dishes, so I imagine that they
have considered that with these concentrators too.

>
> - A dish stirlings produce twice as much electricity as a
> solar-tracking flat PV pannel of the same size, and is cheaper.

Yes, but the PV doesn't require concentrated sunlight and is far simpler
than a mechanical stirling engine and reflector system.

>
> - This, except prototypes and desmo projects, is the first "real"
> project for dish-strirling. And it will give 500 MW !! I think it's
> the first tuime an energy technology starts that big. Wind power has
> been around for 25 years, and grew gradually, so that the larger
> projects now are also around 500 MW. Even nukes didn"'t start that
> big, the first reactors were only a few MW's.
>
> - Unfortunately, SES says it's now targetting only utility market so
> nobody can buy one or two dishes "for at least two years". Too bad,
> because one or two of the 25kW dishes could be nice for an hotel, a
> small business, an hospital


Maybe, if they have appropriate location for it.

>...Perhaps another company could buy them
> dishes in large numbers and sell them in retail?
>
> - They promise a cost of electricity of 0.06$/kWh for large projects.
> If they manage to do that, this is competitive : roughly the same
> price than wind power, but production occurs at daytime (more valuable
> electricity)

But not the entire day time. Sun rise and sunset are barely usable.
Peak energy demands continue into dusk hours. Heliostat power towers or
solar chimneys have longer operating times after the sun sets.


and is quite reliable (in a desert, wheather is quite
> predictable)
>
> - Electricity is made only during daytime, but this is not a problem
> because demand is lower at night.

It's not *as* much of a problem compared to daytime demand, but it is a
problem, since there is still demand. They can oversize the facilities
to have enough excess power for storage, but it's not clear what storage
technologies they will use.

>By the way, many electric plants are
> stopped during the night.
>
> - Land occupied by suuch a "solar farm" is tiny compared to hydro :
> for instance, the hoover dam flooded 247 square miles, and a "solar
> farm" would need only 11 square miles

True, but hydro can produce 24 hours a day and for about 2 cents/Kwh.

> to produce as much energy. In
> addition, the solar farm can be put in an otherwise useless desert,
> while the dam flood a valley, that is often a a very rich place (both
> for nature and humans).

Yes, though the lakes produced are often as rich or richer as a source
of aquaculture, flood control, recreations, etc.

>
> - This new energy technology could complement nuclear reactors, dams,
> wind turbine and coal with CO2-sequestration to get a zero or near
> zero CO2 electricity mix.


I agree there. It's possible to have some very interesting mixtures of
these power systems that combine advantages of each individual approach.

--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
.

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