Large-Scale, Cheap Solar Electricity

Technology Review ^ | June 23, 2006 | Kevin Bullis

[qam1]

"[W]hen the Paris Exhibition closes electric light will close with it and no more be heard of." - Erasmus Wilson (1878) Professor at Oxford University

"This `telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." - Western Union internal memo, 1878

"Radio has no future."- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), British mathematician and physicist, ca. 1897.

"Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia."- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London.

Solar cells have been around just as long, since 1883.

There's a reason why those other things have taken off while solar remains a liberal's pipe dream

For starters those other things aren't limited by the 1st Law of Thermodynamics, the Solar Constant, etc.

[OmahaFields]

"make enough solar cells annually to generate 430 megawatts"

One day, these writers/editors will learn the difference between power and energy.

[OmahaFields]

I was too quick. I think they mean that they will annually produce solar cells capable of generating 450 kws, not that the solar cells will generate 450 kws annually. My bad. Carry-over from last energy thread ...

[goldstategop]

Of course. Since the utility company now keeps an excess on hand that's unconsumed, you get a rebate for freeing the grid. Eventually, that $4.88 you still paid them will get refunded. Its just a question of when.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[thinking]

what happens when the parking lot is full of cars?

[chaosagent]

Bookmarked

[Constantine XIII]

To put that in perspective, it takes roughly a decade to build a nuclear power plant. So that's ~500MW/year capacity for solar compared to ~100MW/year capacity for nuclear.

If what they are saying is true, they could make a good piece of money in the southwest.

If not, well, we'll never hear from them again. It's win/win for most of us. :P

[ErnBatavia]

Solar works great on a small scale

Unless you throw away 30 or 40 bucks on a set of those crappy solar Malibu Lights...total waste of money.

[ez]

"CD's will never catch on...you'll never replace the record album." My boss at work circa 1990.

[ErnBatavia]

if Walmart did all their parking lots alone they could probably generate enough to at least take a chunk out of their air conditioning costs...

But first, they'd have to discontinue that informal policy of allowing half their lots to be RV Parks...

[cripplecreek]

what happens when the parking lot is full of cars?

The answer seems pretty obvious. However most of the stores around here almost never have parking lots that are more than half full. I'm actually more interested in the possibility of doing it with highways and roads. It's a long way off but interesting to think about.

[BlueDragon]

Sticky?

I've never touched the stuff. Thanks for the info.

Alloyed with other metals, I suppose it's main charm is helping raise conductivity? By itself, it is highly conductive, I take it... The stuff seems rare, or at least difficult to refine to purity, at least. A by-product of aluminum ore refining, for the most part, but significant percentages realized only with enhanced processes...

[fish hawk]

Yeah, I agree, whatever you said.

[BlueDragon]

But first, they'd have to discontinue that informal policy of allowing half their lots to be RV Parks...

Discontinue?, Nah, just amend it, to run 'em out during the "peak" daylight hours. Let 'em park at night. They can shop early morn, or in the evenings.

[IYAAYAS]

I'm an (almost) electrical engineer, I took a photovoltaics course last summer with the professor who literally wrote the book on photovoltaics.

I just looked at a few of the "whole system" designs I had done. If the panels I used in my designs had been FREE, the overall cost of the system would have only dropped by less than %10. The costs of a PV system in order are: batteries, inverters, charge controllers, solar panels, cabling, and hardware.

I've given PV systems a lot of thought over the years and IMHO the only way to go would be inexpensive solar roofing shingles tied directly into the grid (no batteries). If every building had this set-up we could probably cut our domestic non-solar electricity generation by %20-30. Peak energy usage is always during the daylight hours, lucky for us that's also when the sun's out :) .

[Rockingham]

That too, although it likely has to be reapplied from time to time.

[OmahaFields]

To put that in perspective, it takes roughly a decade to build a nuclear power plant. So that's ~500MW/year capacity for solar compared to ~100MW/year capacity for nuclear.

Nuclear construction is not limited to 100 MW/year. The new Texas reactors will result in 1356 * 2 MW in 9 years and that is only one site. That is from announcement to commercial. Actual construction might be say 5 years per plant and we could easily construct many plants at the same time with existing infrastructure. We could probably put more than 8000 MW of capacity on-line each year.

[OmahaFields]

Peak energy usage is in the late afternoon when the cells are not very efficient.

[Constantine XIII]

You're right, I'm comparing apples and Fords. :P

Sorry!

[Centurion2000]

My uncle met a scientist in Japan who is working on a durable coating for roads and parking lots that uses solar energy to produce electricity.

How exactly will that deal with vulcanized rubber deposition from the wheels of passing cars?