Monday, May 3, 2010
Manganese, Magnesium and Molybdenum, Strategic Metals Key to Green Technology
Will Oil Spill Impede Offshore Plans?
The news of the Gulf oil spill are developing in front of our horrified eyes. The event is quickly becoming one of the worst environmental catastrophes on record. The BP facility has been leaking and will continue to leak millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf since it exploded on April 20, and could cause serious damage to coastal regions of Louisiana. As a result, President Obama may have to reconsider his proposal to expand drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and along much of the Atlantic Coast, as does the draft climate and energy bill developed by Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn. This sobering situation could have a major effect on the administration’s plans to expand offshore drilling.
As in the case of nuclear energy or coal extraction from deep mines, off - shore drilling by its own nature involves potentially catastrophic risks, namely small probability events with enormous consequences. As with nuclear energy, the upside is relatively small: nuclear fuel is very limited so nuclear power cannot ...
The news of the Gulf oil spill are developing in front of our horrified eyes. The event is quickly becoming one of the worst environmental catastrophes on record. The BP facility has been leaking and will continue to leak millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf since it exploded on April 20, and could cause serious damage to coastal regions of Louisiana. As a result, President Obama may have to reconsider his proposal to expand drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and along much of the Atlantic Coast, as does the draft climate and energy bill developed by Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn. This sobering situation could have a major effect on the administration’s plans to expand offshore drilling.
As in the case of nuclear energy or coal extraction from deep mines, off - shore drilling by its own nature involves potentially catastrophic risks, namely small probability events with enormous consequences. As with nuclear energy, the upside is relatively small: nuclear fuel is very limited so nuclear power cannot replace fossil fuels, and off - shore drilling similarly has a limited impact on the nation's consumption of oil. So the upside is limited. The downside, however, is enormous. We are seeing right now what an off - shore drilling catastrophe can imply to our nation, costing lives, asset losses in coastal areas, business interruption, massive damage to fishing, to unique environmental assets and an untold number of species. Another event of this nature is catastrophic climate change, a risk that the Pentagon has recently identified as one of the worst threats to national security. Are we sure these catastrophic risks will happen? No, we are not, and the probabilities are small. But this is also the case in the burning of one's home, an event that has a small probability yet is so devastating that most people do insure against it. One insures against catastrophic events whenever possible and reasonable.
Reasonable insurance is available in this case. It involves avoiding off - shore drilling and using other energy sources that do not involve catastrophic risks. To think properly about the problem, one has to focus on the worst that can happen, as well as on the upside. The upside, as already mentioned, is limited. And we can see what is the worst with off - shore drilling - it is now in front of our eyes. Small upside, large downside. The reality is that we do have choices. For example, developing wind and solar energy instead of off - shore oil is a form of insurance policy. Solar and wind involve no catastrophic risks, and the value of the 'insurance' that they provide cannot be overestimated. Wind energy is limited in supply but concentrated solar power (CSP) is a secure source of energy and it is so abundant that it can easily replace fossil fuels (which nuclear energy cannot do, since nuclear fuel is scarce) and is almost competitive in cost with fossil fuels. All of this CSP can do without catastrophic political risks such as interrupted oil supplies, without the costs of lives lost in mining accidents or off - shore oil spills, and without potentially catastrophic climate change. The small additional cost of CSP while it is being commercially developed will dissapear as the technologies go through their "learning by doing" cost drops. In any case, the insurance factor that CSP provides over off - shore oil is worth the small additional cost. It pays to be prudent: better safe than sorry.
As in the case of the financial catastrophe that grips our nation and the world economy since 2008, off - shore drilling involve catastrophic risks that are perhaps one in fifty or a hundred year events and seem unlikely to happen - until they happen. Now they are happening.
Our tendency to ignore infrequent risks because of their small probability has to be change. This tendency is based on existing theories of risk management - introduced by John Von Neumann after WWII - they weigh the loss by its probability and therefore ignore rare events with devastating consequences. We need to follow a different approach - one that I am proposing in theoretical as well as empirical terms, including practical methodological approaches I am developing for the US Air Force that can have a positive bearing on national security (see also attachment).
It is human nature to ignore risks that are infrequent, and such insensitivity is built into our current approaches to risk management. But denial does not work and increases the losses after the fact. Catastrophic risks must be faced and measured properly, they must be adequetly managed and mitigated. The small probability of their occurence should not blind us about the enormous consequences at stake. My suggestion on how to do this is practical and it also involves changing the foundations of statistics, providing a rigorous, systematic and practical way to measure, anticipate and mitigate catastrophic risks that considers the worst consequences along with the averages. It is a matter of common sense that can save many lives, avoid damage to national security, help secure critical supplies of energy for our nation while avoiding technologies - like off - shore drilling - that seem productive until one takes into consideration the catastrophes that they can unleash, and the attendant enormous losses.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
AREVA And Fresno Nuclear Energy Group Ink MOU For Clean Energy Park
According to the MOU agreement, AREVA and FNEG will work together on the site selection and initial development of a nominal 1,600 Megawatt U.S. EPR reactor
- By Stephen Heiser -
AREVA and the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group, LLC (FNEG) have announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop the country's most advanced Clean Energy Park near Fresno, California, including nuclear and renewable generation.
According to the MOU agreement, AREVA and FNEG will work together on the site selection and initial development of a nominal 1,600 Megawatt U.S. EPR reactor. The agreement also includes potential development of other AREVA energy technologies such as concentrated solar power.
"Our goal is to create a power-producing infrastructure that combines clean electric energy sources, including nuclear, solar and future technologies," said John Hutson, president of FNEG. "We’ll begin with solar because that’s what’s available in Western Fresno County right now."
"We look forward to helping to realize a California Clean Energy Park. This agreement with FNEG is an important step toward reaching our goal of developing a fleet of U.S. EPR reactors, which will produce cost-effective, CO2-free electricity, spur local investment and manufacturing, and create thousands of jobs,” said Jacques Besnainou, CEO of AREVA Inc. “AREVA, which holds a complete renewable energy portfolio, is also pleased with the potential development of concentrated solar power generation as part of this Clean Energy Park.”
John Hutson added, "Our vision of a Clean Energy Park in California's Central Valley would produce large amounts of clean electricity and usable water for our state's critical agricultural industry while meeting our self-imposed commitment to reduce greenhouse gases."
FNEG and AREVA are considering dozens of promising sites in the Central San Joaquin Valley. Once a site is selected, work will begin on the solar phase of the Clean Energy Park.
Construction of the nuclear facility will create up to 11,000 direct and indirect jobs, and more than 400 permanent jobs upon completion. Additionally, the project will generate billions of dollars of regional economic investment. When complete, the solar and nuclear plants will produce clean, constant, reliable, carbon-free electricity for more than 1.6 million households.
As a leading U.S. nuclear vendor and a significant, growing player in the renewable energies and electricity transmission and distribution sectors, AREVA Inc.’s 6,000 U.S. employees are committed to serving the nation and paving the way for the future of the energy market. With 45 locations across the nation and $2.4 billion in energy revenues in 2009, AREVA Inc., through its subsidiaries, combines U.S. leadership, access to worldwide expertise and a proven track record of performance. In the U.S. and in more than 100 countries around the world, AREVA is engaged in the 21st century’s greatest challenges: making energy available to all, protecting the planet, and acting responsibly toward future generations. AREVA Inc. is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.
Published Apr 30 2010, 09:56 AM by steveheiser Filed under: AREVA, Memorandum of Understanding , agreement, MOU, ENERGY, nuclear, power, nuclear power, deal, Fresno Nuclear Energy Group, fneg, sign, ink, Clean energy parkThursday, April 29, 2010
Solar concentrators: Research on making solar power cheaper
A new research publication, launched less than a week after Earth Day, focuses on the impact of light engineering on the environment, green technologies and sustainable energy development. A bi-monthly supplement to Optics Express, the journal of the Optical Society, Energy Express will cover topics from making solar energy economical to providing energy from fusion.
The inaugural issue is dedicated to solar concentrators — a technology that harnesses the most abundant source of energy available to us: the sun. Solar concentrators aim to increase the efficiency of solar energy generation and the journal includes features on new devices that concentrate the sun’s rays and increase the efficiency of solar cells.
Despite its promise, solar power only accounted for about 1 percent of U.S. renewable energy production in 2008, according to the society. Because one of the greatest barriers to popularizing the use of solar power is its cost, industry experts are looking for ways to make its large-scale production cheaper.
How can solar energy become more affordable? By lowering the cost of solar cells or increasing the amount of power they generate, according to the Optical Society. Here are two of the methods, outlined by experts in Energy Express, which could achieve those goals:
Layered solar cell materials
The latest and most efficient solar cells in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory can achieve efficiencies greater than 40 percent while commercially-available solar panels are currently about 19 percent efficient. The best solar cells could reach 50 percent efficiency with more work, according to the laboratory’s Sarah Kurtz and John Geisz.
Solar fuels
Concentrated solar energy can be used to produce clean chemical fuels for the power and transportation sectors, according to Aldo Steinfeld of ETH Zurich and Alan Weimer from the University of Colorado. Thermochemical processes that make use of concentrated solar radiation as an energy source to drive high-temperature endothermic reactions have the potential to achieve high solar-to-fuel energy conversion efficiencies.
Image: False color image showing Earth’s solar energy absorption / NASA
A green light unto the nations
�I will make with you a covenant to be a light unto nations� Isaiah 42:6.
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Jews have long been identified as divinely selected to serve as a light unto nations. Democratic ideals, fidelity to justice, the rule of law and essential dignity of the human person are just a few examples of that model. Interestingly, so is the first known environmental protection exhortation -- to respect the planet and its resources. Specifically, the Torah commands �do not destroy trees by swinging an axe against them, for from them you will eat.� Deuteronomy 20:19.
Israel has been associated with environmental conscientiousness since the creation of the modern state 62 years ago. Around the world, awareness has also expanded as we consume resources, particularly fossil fuels, at alarming rates. Last week, the world celebrated its 40th �Earth Day� and, while some scientists may debate global warming, the felicitous objective of enjoying a greener planet is universally agreed upon. Moreover, major geopolitical factors have also entered the equation as much of the world�s oil and natural gas reserves are controlled by rulers hostile to the values described above.
Western civilization and the price of oil
Today, oil trades around $80 a barrel. This is more than double what it cost at the end of 2008, yet only about half of the high reached six months prior in July 2008. Clearly, oil is a volatile commodity. Tragically, it is also one that the world has become addicted to. I submit that the more important figure is the price of the last barrel of oil. Carried to the extreme, that price is binary: the last barrel will cost either $0 or $infinity. If we approach the latter price, we will concomitantly approach the end of western civilization. Therefore, we must dedicate massive resources to reach the former price, where oil becomes the oleaginous, messy, valueless liquid that it was before the industrial revolution.
Who will lead that effort? In response to the energy crisis generated by the Arab embargo in 1973 (following the Yom Kippur war), it looked like America along with Israel - would blaze that trail. Israel was a natural pioneer for this research. Passive solar home design, blocking/capturing heat during the day and releasing it at night, was embraced by Israeli architects as early as the 1970s and over 50% of domestic hot water has been produced by solar energy since the 1950s.
In fact, by the 1980s, Luz, an Israeli-American company was generating 95% of the world�s solar energy. Their first project was a 12.5 MW electricity-generating power station at Dagget, California, followed by six 30 MW power plants, employing a larger size solar collector unit. Ultimately, Luz erected two 80 MW power stations using even larger solar collector units. All of these plants are still operational, over 20 years later.
But in the mid-1980s oil became cheap again. Saudi Arabia increased the flow and the Reagan administration applauded the initiative. The US knew that the world�s second largest oil exporter was the Soviet Union and that low oil prices would cripple its economy. Mired in Afghanistan (America�s turn would come a quarter century later) and stretched thin to support failed satellite dictatorships around the world, the USSR relied heavily on its oil export revenues. As prices crumbled, so too did the Berlin Wall and, ultimately, the entire �Evil Empire.�
Thus the West won the Cold War, sometimes referred to World War III. Can it use a similar strategy to win World War IV, currently being waged against radical Islam financed by petro-dollars? I believe we can. But the Saudis won�t be our allies this time, nor will any other entity whose economy is fueled chiefly by oil exports. Today, the only way to make oil cheap is to make it useless.
The president�s recent drilling compromise received a lot of attention. In my view, it is a side-show. Even if America succeeds in increasing its share of the planet�s proven reserves from 3% to 4, 5 or even 10% (which is extremely unlikely), that�s a proverbial drop in the barrel as the US continues to consume 25% of the world�s production. Drilling may delay the inevitable, but it doesn�t eliminate the addiction. A heroin addict that plants poppies in his backyard is still an addict. Moreover, few addicts ever act in ways that alienate their dealers, which in our world are the dreadful oil exporters. Therefore, the only responsible rationale for increased drilling is to buy more time to develop alternative energy solutions.
Clearly, China understands that. It is busy securing oil drilling concessions from countries across Africa and Latin America and has surpassed the US as the chief importer of oil from Saudi Arabia. Yet, simultaneously, China is also investing massively in green technologies. The country is now the world�s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic solar panels and at the vanguard of developing a domestic electric car industry. Warren Buffet believes one company, BYD, knows what it takes to make China a �better place� and last year invested $230 million for a 10% stake in the company. Perhaps Buffet thinks Wang Chuan-Fu, BYD�s founder and chairman, means Shai Agassi in Mandarin.
Bright lights in Israel
These enterprises are critical if we are to reduce and, hopefully, eventually eliminate our dependence on oil. Better Place has already signed deals on five continents that want to move towards battery-powered electric cars. They also just raised another $350 million and progress has been impressive on all fronts. Additional cities, states and countries have clamored to be included and the company can�t handle even a fraction of the enthusiasm. According to Michael Granoff, Head of Oil Independence Policies for Better Place, �a critical question is how will the anticipated hunger for electricity be satisfied? We�re working closely with renewable energy companies, particularly in Israel, to ensure that Better Place�s success also inures to the benefit of companies expanding grid capacity with clean-tech solutions.�
Today, renewable sources like solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydro play a negligible role in the overall mix. However, the technologies are improving, especially abroad. While oil was cheap, US drivers paid less at the pump. Europeans did not. Most European countries taxed gasoline and, in my view, thus encouraged European companies to identify renewable energy solutions. Germany, Spain and the Nordic countries have been illuminating the path to non-oil dependent technologies and entire towns in Denmark are now powered by alternative energy sources.
Thankfully, Israeli companies are also playing a role. Luz went bankrupt in the 1990s, shortly after constructing the California plants, a victim of investment dollars run dry. However, Luz�s two major corporate successors remain leaders in concentrated solar power. Solel, which employs the next generation of Luz parabolic troughs for its solar thermal power plants was acquired last October by Siemens for $418 million. And BrightSource, founded by several former Luz engineers, just received $1.4 billion in US federal loan guarantees to construct three separate utility-scale solar thermal units in California that will generate 400 MW of electricity. That�s enough to power 140,000 homes and will nearly double the amount of solar thermal energy produced in the US today. According to Professor David Faiman of Ben Gurion University, �whoever invests in Israeli solar initiatives today is likely to be included in the next generation of soligarchs.�
US debt fuels Islamic militants
Let�s think about what the true price of oil is for America and the rest of the free world. If oil had no value, would we be grappling with the question of a nuclear Iran? Would Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror-based organizations be viable without any petro funding? Would the burgeoning number of Wahabi-financed hate-preaching madrasas continue to flourish? Would Al-Quaida even exist?
The United States has already spent over $1 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they�re likely to be there for a while. America imports about $300-500 billion a year in foreign oil and borrows over $2 billion every day to finance these expenditures. The national debt is over $12 trillion and rising. Unless our creditors all embrace the Koran�s prohibition against �riba,� the charging of interest on loans, America won�t get out of its economic jam until it gets out of its fossil fuel addiction. I believe that the West still has a green light. But we must hurry forward before it turns dark.
Lyon (Lenny) Roth is a senior executive at an international wealth management firm and a member of Ben Gurion University's Board of Governors.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 28, 2010
� Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010
New nuclear plants for Iowa, California?
Developments in two US states could lead to the construction of new nuclear power plants. In Iowa, legislation has been passed to enable utilities to study building new power reactors, while in California Areva has firmed up its agreement to participate in a plant near Fresno.
The governor of Iowa has signed into law a measure which encourages utilities to conduct studies into the possible expansion of nuclear energy in the state. On 28 April, at the Des Moines offices of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Governor Chet Culver signed a bill which requires rate-regulated public utilities to undertake analyses of and preparation for the possible construction of nuclear power plants in Iowa.
The legislation calls for such studies to be conducted with only a limited cost to ratepayers and with the Iowa Utilities Board providing oversight. The bill also modifies existing law related to electricity generation and to switching existing coal-based plants to other fuel sources. Utilities will be able to enter into rate-making in order to pay for investments that may lead to lower carbon emissions from current plants. This, the governor said, "opens the door for plants to switch from coal to natural gas, add 'carbon capture' to existing plants, and add gas or biomass as a primary source of fuel for these plants."
On signing the bill, Culver commented: "This bill gives Iowa utilities and consumers more tools to make decisions on our energy future. The study will give us a clear idea of what the future for nuclear and alternative energies may hold in Iowa." He added, "From the $100 million Power Fund, to wind energy, to the Office of Energy Independence, we are building our own future in energy production, and the new energy economy can create good jobs with benefits for Iowans. We are proving that environmental protection and economic growth can and should be tied together."
In March 2010, the Iowa state Senate voted to allow utility MidAmerican Energy to increase electric consumer rates so that it can study the feasibility of constructing a nuclear power plant. A vote of 37-13 in favour has allowed a $4 per year increase in residential customers' electricity bills, with a $15 increase for commercial customers and $1100 for industrial customers. Over three years the additional funds, totalling $15 million, will be used by MidAmercian to finance a study into the feasibility of constructing a second nuclear power plant in the state.
MidAmerican had previously proposed constructing a nuclear power plant in Payette County, Idaho. However, in December 2007, it announced that it had decided not to proceed. At that time, the company said that its decision was "based on economic considerations and not on issues related to the suitability of the Idaho site."
There is currently only one nuclear power plant operating in Iowa: the single-unit Duane Arnold plant. The 600 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) is majority owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources (70%), while the Central Iowa Power Cooperative owns 20% and the Corn Belt Power Cooperative owns 10%. The reactor, which began operating in 1975, accounts for almost 10% of Iowa’s electricity generation, with the remainder primarily produced from coal-fired plants.
California dreaming
Meanwhile, in California - where a moratorium introduced in 1976 on new nuclear build is still in place - France's Areva has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fresno Nuclear Energy Group (FNEG) to develop a "clean energy park" near Fresno. The MoU follows the signing a letter of intent to cooperate in December 2009. The park, in California's Central Valley, is eventually to include nuclear and renewable electricity generation.
Under the MoU, the two companies will work together on the site selection and initial development of a nominal 1600 MWe EPR reactor. The agreement also allows for the potential development of other Areva energy technologies, such as concentrated solar power.
In a statement, Areva and FNEG said that, once the site of the energy park has been selected, work will begin on the solar phase of the park.
Before a nuclear power plant can be built on the site of the park, the legislation banning the construction of such plants in California must first be removed. A bill to repeal this moratorium was voted down in April 2007, but may be reintroduced.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Can the Sahara Light Up Europe with Solar Power?: Recent Developments in CSP
Across the world's sunbelts, concentrated solar power is emerging as a blindingly obvious answer both to global power – and local water – needs. But can it reach the scale required?
by Duncan Graham-Rowe
(A Desertec map of power from the Sahara to Europe. Source: Desertec Foundation)
Desertification is a dirty word, but deserts are not entirely without their uses. Plans are underway to transform swathes of the Sahara into a glimmering sea of mirrors, with the goal of piping cheap, clean and efficient solar energy into the heart of Europe.
Dubbed the Desertec Industrial Initiative, it will create vast fields of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants – arrays of mirrors which focus the sun's energy to turn water into steam, and so drive electrical turbines. From there, the power will flow through a network of low loss transmission cables to pipe electricity into the existing European grid, via Spain.
The £240 billion venture, which brings together such big energy names as Siemens and E.On, is designed to meet as much as 15% of Europe's fast-rising electricity demand by 2050. And the first electrons could be coming onstream in as little as five years' time…
This, says Jonathon Porritt, is something of a second coming for CSP. "It was first introduced after the oil shocks of the 70s and early 80s, but as soon as oil prices fell, all investment in that particular technology stopped."
But now that the cost of carbon is playing into the economics of energy production, CSP is looking increasingly promising. According to Keith Bowen, director of engineering at UK-based Circadian Solar, it holds two trump cards: efficiency and scale.
"It scales extremely well," he says. As the size of the plant increases, the relative costs come down. Large CSP plants can produce power for a quarter of the cost of that generated by standard solar photovoltaics, adds Bowen.
Efficiency is improving rapidly, too. Twenty years ago, the maximum efficiency you could get from the sun was 15-20%, compared with over 50% for fossil fuels. "Today," says Bowen, "[CSP is] closer to 40%."
And for those who live in or near deserts, that means it can also play a role in securing another vital asset: water. CSP is ideally suited to powering desalination plants. Taking salt out of water is a simple enough process, but one that uses a lot of energy. For developing countries where power shortages are a growing problem, as well as luxury resort islands where resources are scarce, Bowen argues, CSP could be an ideal solution – producing clean water and power at the same time.
A common criticism directed at both solar and wind power is that they're inherently intermittent: the sun only shines in the day, the breeze doesn't always blow. But recent advances in CSP could keep the power flowing all night long. Desertec is designed to operate 24 hours a day by superheating water to temperatures of 260ºC, sufficient to create steam at high enough pressures that it will keep driving turbines and generating electricity long after the sun has set.
An alternative approach, which is being explored by Solar Reserve in California, is to use the thermal energy to melt salt. Molten salt retains heat long enough to drive a turbine for much of the night. The company is hoping to build a 150MW solar plant in the Sonaran Desert, which would use 17,500 mirrors, each 24 meters wide, to heat salt to 565ºC. This would be enough to store up to seven hours of the sun's energy.
There's a lot of promise in this sort of approach, says Bowen. "It's been around for a while and is fairly well developed." But, he says, like other forms of CSP, it tends to work best on a grand scale, typically plants of 50MW or above.
Another development that should also help to spur CSP is the availability of better solar maps. These are detailed layouts of the earth's surface that show historical information about the amount of sunlight different locations receive. These data sheets have long been available from places like the US Government's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, quantifying typical solar trends in different geographic regions. Now companies like 3TIER in Seattle, Washington, are making it possible to target locations for solar power not just by general region but at much higher resolutions. This enables prospective CSP developers to zero in on ideal sites.
3TIER's maps are the first to take into account not just solar activity but also the impact of long-term and seasonal wind variations. These can be significant between locations just a few kilometers apart, and affect the energy required to continually readjust the position of the mirrors.
Using this sort of approach, it has become possible to choose sites that will optimize energy output, says Gerry Wolff, Coordinator of DESERTEC-UK, an independent advisory group of CSP enthusiasts. In fact, he says, it's been calculated that a single patch of the Sahara, just 114,090 square kilometers in area, receives enough sunlight to meet the entire world's electricity demands through CSP.
So what's stopping us? Partly cost, says Wolff. Hovering at around 10-20 US cents per kilowatt hour, CSP "looks a little bit on the expensive side," compared with gas at about 5 cents. But this is likely to change when the volumes increase, he says. Indeed, three studies carried out by the German aerospace industry suggest that CSP could eventually become one of the cheapest sources of electricity in Europe. "Until about 2017, electricity from CSP will probably be more expensive," concludes Wolff. But then, as economies of scale kick in, it will become cheaper and increasingly attractive.
It is certainly attracting growing interest. The World Bank recently announced it is investing $5.5 billion into the development of CSP across North Africa. And last year, Morocco, the only North African state with no oil production of its own, declared its intention to become a pioneer in CSP as a way of cutting reliance on oil and gas imports. It plans to build five plants with a total energy production of 2,000MW by 2020.
In light of such investment, the Desertec Industrial Initiative seems less of a leap of faith. The technology to transmit the electricity across the vast distances to Europe has been well established for decades, says Wolff. But realistically, it only needs to reach as far as Spain, since Europe already has an international electrical transmission grid. This, Wolff adds, acts a bit like a pond, in the sense that it doesn't matter where you fill it up from. "So countries as far north as Sweden would immediately benefit."
The consensus on CSP now, says Jonathon Porritt, is that although it's extremely ambitious, it's also quite realistic. Besides the potential to generate vast amounts of electricity, the growing need for renewable sources of desalinated water makes CSP an excellent candidate for support, he says.
The irony is that in years to come we may find ourselves looking to deserts not just for power, but also for water.
Solar, Lighter
CSP may be a simple idea, but it doesn't come cheap. It's not easy building in the middle of a desert, and there are fairly substantial costs involved in constructing all the mirrors and central receiver towers, which have to withstand extreme temperatures and continuously pump water up to the collector. One solution to this is to dispense with the steam turbines and instead concentrate the light on highly efficient photovoltaic solar cells – the approach taken by Circadian.
Another novel approach, under experimentation at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, is to construct cheaper lightweight towers, containing a second set of mirrors at the light collection point. These are used to redirect the light to heat water at ground level, precluding the need to pump it up the tower.
This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.
Want to learn more? Look into the Worldchanging archives:
Clean Power From Deserts
Concentrated Solar Power Goes Mainstream: Lockheed-Martin To Build Large CSP Plant With Thermal Storage In Arizona
eSolar Launches First Solar Tower in US
World’s Second* Largest Solar Plant To Be Built in Florida