new solar project

[OS]

link

-Uses sun tracking parabolic dishes to generate heat instead of photovoltaics.
-Energy efficiency is ~30%.
-500-850 megawatt site planned near victorville (arid socal region).
-Cost below current peak power cost of 11.33 cents/kWh

 

[wfbberzerker]

always good news to hear that kind of thing.

 

[Eli]

That's awesome.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Eli]

Ironically, SoCal Edison sold the dish-generator technology to Stirling Energy founder David Slawson in 1996, after California's regulators told the utility to stop passing on its research and development costs to customers.

BWHAHAHAAHA

That is fscking hilarious.

 

[OS]

they have a website with pictures

What I'm kind of surprised of is the simplicity of the system and the fact no one has already done this. It's just a parabolic array of mirrors running a heat driven engine/generator.

The state should consider just filling death valley with these. 😛


Peak oil or not, might be too early to call the demise of industrialized society and such.

 

[klah]

Doesn't the Australian Solar Tower start construction some time soon?

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: OS
they have a website with pictures

What I'm kind of surprised of is the simplicity of the system and the fact no one has already done this. It's just a parabolic array of mirrors running a heat driven engine/generator.

The state should consider just filling death valley with these. 😛


Peak oil or not, might be too early to call the demise of industrialized society and such.

If it pans out, I bet they will....

California's new solar-power drive dovetails nicely with Stirling Energy's long-term vision. Osborn says 11 square miles of dish farms could produce as much electricity as the 2,050 MW from Hoover Dam. "We're already looking at a half-dozen one-square-mile sites in the California desert," he says, "and there's lots and lots more territory there."

Better still, there's even more sunny, open space in the deserts of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Ultimately, 100 square miles of Stirling dishes could replace all the coal now burned to generate electricity in the entire U.S. -- if some dishes get coupled to systems that can store solar energy for use after sunset, such as massive flywheels and fuel cells.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: OS
they have a website with pictures

What I'm kind of surprised of is the simplicity of the system and the fact no one has already done this. It's just a parabolic array of mirrors running a heat driven engine/generator.

The state should consider just filling death valley with these. 😛


Peak oil or not, might be too early to call the demise of industrialized society and such.

Whoa, check out the illustration of the Solar Sterling Engine.

I didn't realize it actually used a sterling cycle engine! :Q

That's even more awesome.