Solar Energy by Karansank
‘Solar Energy is a safe solution for our energy crisis and is environmental friendly’ may be a pleasant music for the ears. But in reality, it is otherwise, mainly due to the that commercial generation of solar energy needs vast area of lands apart from water for the periodical cleaning up of parabolic mirrors.
As on date, there are two types for the generation of solar energy.
1.Photovoltaic panels.
2.Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
The first one is used for a limited power generation of heating water for bath, lighting a few streets or houses. Its power is user specific and cannot be useful during winter and rainy days. Cells in the Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly into electricity and these panels sit mainly on roofs and need little land. These are individual focus and could not be extended for mass generation of electrical energy.
The second one contains parabolic mirrors, shaped as ultra long troughs, which
concentrate sunlight into a long tube of molten salts that store heat. This heat is then used in a conventional thermal power plant.
The CSP, it is believed, will reduce the cost of electricity. With improvements, CSP will be competitive with conventional electricity. Many think CSP is the energy of the future, not coal based or nuclear power. If you deeply dwell into the subject, you will face with practical problems in generating power with CSP.
Let us try to know solar energy vis-à-vis other countries.
How much land do CSP plants need? Consider the four biggest plants coming up in the US. Most new experimental plants are coming up in the Mojave Desert in the US, where the skies are cloudless and land is plentiful and cheap.
1) A joint venture headed by Spain’s Abengoa Solar will use 1,800 acres to generate 280 MW, starting 2011.
2) Florida Power and Light will use parabolic mirrors over 2,012 acres to generate 250 MW.
3) Stirling Energy Systems will use 4,500 acres to generate 500MW, up gradable to 850MW.
4) Solel, an Israeli specialist, will use 6,000 acres to generate 553 MW.
So, a plant of 1,000 MW might need 10,000 acres!
One will reasonably feel that the existence of Indian deserts mean there is no land problem. But, it is not so. Many past attempts to harness government owned wasteland for plantations have been stalled by villagers, because what the government classifies as wasteland is used by them for grazing, collecting minor timber and produce, and as transport corridors. Villagers have spurned joint venture proposals in which paper companies offer them a share of the benefits — they simply do not trust the government or corporations. Moreover, solar mirrors need water to wash off dust, and water is very scarce in a desert. Villagers will resist diversion of existing water sources to solar power projects.
Further solar energy is seasonal depending upon the availability of sunshine.
Then, what is the solution to solve our energy crisis?
Let us not ignore any energy generating devices and let us try to maintain viable balance between conventional and non-conventional sources of energy. Hence, we need hydro, thermal, nuclear plants apart from wind and solar power plants. All should compliment each other in fulfilling our electricity deficits.
Tail Piece Article:
Lunar Solar Power System
‘Moon based systems are the permanent solution to our electricity deficit throughout the world’ declares Mr.David Criswell, University of Houston physicist. Criswell has been formulating the plans and the justification for building bases on the moon to collect solar energy and beam it through space for use by electricity-hungry Earthlings.
Criswell estimates that by the year 2050, a prosperous population of 10 billion would require about 20 terawatts of power, or about three to five times the amount of commercial power currently produced.
The moon receives more than 13,000 terawatts of solar power, and harnessing just one percent could satisfy Earth's power needs, he says. The challenge is to build a commercial system that can extract a tiny portion of the immense solar power available and deliver the energy to consumers on earth at a reasonable price.
Criswell's lunar-based system to supply solar power to Earth is based on building large banks of solar cells on the moon to collect sunlight and send it back to receivers on Earth via a microwave beam. Solar cells are electronic devices that gather sunlight and convert it into usable electricity. The microwave energy collected on Earth is then converted to electricity that can be fed into the local electric grid.
Criswell says: Such a system could easily supply the 20 terawatts or more of electricity required by 10 billion people and the system is environmentally friendly, safe to humans, and reliable since it is not affected by clouds or rain, either on the Earth or the moon, which essentially has no weather.
Further according to him, the moon continuously receives sunlight, except once a year for about three hours during a full lunar eclipse, when stored energy could be used to maintain power on Earth.
The system could be built on the moon from lunar materials and operated on the moon and Earth using existing technologies, he says, which would greatly reduce the cost of the operation. He estimates that a lunar solar power system could begin delivering commercial power about 10 years after program start-up.
Perhaps, India should also join the existing R & D wing of Criswell so that we will not be left behind the technological developments taking place elsewhere in the world.
‘Be Alert, Awake, Aware and Apply’ should be our mantra in this ever changing world to keep up our success story ever on the top. Lacking behind any new technology will only mar our nation’s progress.
As on date, there are two types for the generation of solar energy.
1.Photovoltaic panels.
2.Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
The first one is used for a limited power generation of heating water for bath, lighting a few streets or houses. Its power is user specific and cannot be useful during winter and rainy days. Cells in the Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly into electricity and these panels sit mainly on roofs and need little land. These are individual focus and could not be extended for mass generation of electrical energy.
The second one contains parabolic mirrors, shaped as ultra long troughs, which
concentrate sunlight into a long tube of molten salts that store heat. This heat is then used in a conventional thermal power plant.
The CSP, it is believed, will reduce the cost of electricity. With improvements, CSP will be competitive with conventional electricity. Many think CSP is the energy of the future, not coal based or nuclear power. If you deeply dwell into the subject, you will face with practical problems in generating power with CSP.
Let us try to know solar energy vis-à-vis other countries.
How much land do CSP plants need? Consider the four biggest plants coming up in the US. Most new experimental plants are coming up in the Mojave Desert in the US, where the skies are cloudless and land is plentiful and cheap.
1) A joint venture headed by Spain’s Abengoa Solar will use 1,800 acres to generate 280 MW, starting 2011.
2) Florida Power and Light will use parabolic mirrors over 2,012 acres to generate 250 MW.
3) Stirling Energy Systems will use 4,500 acres to generate 500MW, up gradable to 850MW.
4) Solel, an Israeli specialist, will use 6,000 acres to generate 553 MW.
So, a plant of 1,000 MW might need 10,000 acres!
One will reasonably feel that the existence of Indian deserts mean there is no land problem. But, it is not so. Many past attempts to harness government owned wasteland for plantations have been stalled by villagers, because what the government classifies as wasteland is used by them for grazing, collecting minor timber and produce, and as transport corridors. Villagers have spurned joint venture proposals in which paper companies offer them a share of the benefits — they simply do not trust the government or corporations. Moreover, solar mirrors need water to wash off dust, and water is very scarce in a desert. Villagers will resist diversion of existing water sources to solar power projects.
Further solar energy is seasonal depending upon the availability of sunshine.
Then, what is the solution to solve our energy crisis?
Let us not ignore any energy generating devices and let us try to maintain viable balance between conventional and non-conventional sources of energy. Hence, we need hydro, thermal, nuclear plants apart from wind and solar power plants. All should compliment each other in fulfilling our electricity deficits.
Tail Piece Article:
Lunar Solar Power System
‘Moon based systems are the permanent solution to our electricity deficit throughout the world’ declares Mr.David Criswell, University of Houston physicist. Criswell has been formulating the plans and the justification for building bases on the moon to collect solar energy and beam it through space for use by electricity-hungry Earthlings.
Criswell estimates that by the year 2050, a prosperous population of 10 billion would require about 20 terawatts of power, or about three to five times the amount of commercial power currently produced.
The moon receives more than 13,000 terawatts of solar power, and harnessing just one percent could satisfy Earth's power needs, he says. The challenge is to build a commercial system that can extract a tiny portion of the immense solar power available and deliver the energy to consumers on earth at a reasonable price.
Criswell's lunar-based system to supply solar power to Earth is based on building large banks of solar cells on the moon to collect sunlight and send it back to receivers on Earth via a microwave beam. Solar cells are electronic devices that gather sunlight and convert it into usable electricity. The microwave energy collected on Earth is then converted to electricity that can be fed into the local electric grid.
Criswell says: Such a system could easily supply the 20 terawatts or more of electricity required by 10 billion people and the system is environmentally friendly, safe to humans, and reliable since it is not affected by clouds or rain, either on the Earth or the moon, which essentially has no weather.
Further according to him, the moon continuously receives sunlight, except once a year for about three hours during a full lunar eclipse, when stored energy could be used to maintain power on Earth.
The system could be built on the moon from lunar materials and operated on the moon and Earth using existing technologies, he says, which would greatly reduce the cost of the operation. He estimates that a lunar solar power system could begin delivering commercial power about 10 years after program start-up.
Perhaps, India should also join the existing R & D wing of Criswell so that we will not be left behind the technological developments taking place elsewhere in the world.
‘Be Alert, Awake, Aware and Apply’ should be our mantra in this ever changing world to keep up our success story ever on the top. Lacking behind any new technology will only mar our nation’s progress.
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