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144 comments on Solar Islands: A new concept for low-cost solar energy at very large scale
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GAIA Host Collective
Great article, with a promising outlook.
You mentioned that PV systems lack the ability to store engergy as needed, but I see little mention of how the CSP and solar islands overcome this problem. Does the fluid/vapor retain its heat all night generating power around the clock? One could assume the PV solar-island you mention would still have a storage problem to overcome.
Probably the most compelling thing for me with Solar energy on a large scale is that the best places to build them (near the equator - between the tropics) tend to be far away from the modern population centers that need the energy.
Transmission and storage will be as much (or more) of a challenge than building an affordable/profitable array.
You can see this might work well for emerging energy users like India and China, but not so much for the US and Europe.
Guessing the islands will float just offshore and will be grid-connected by underwater cable. I'd be a little concerned about seaworthiness. Big waves could mess things up. Otherwise, very cool idea.
LoL Ya think?
Wonder what a tsunami would do to a floating "solar island"?
If they are out at sea, probably not a lot. Tsunamis are only a problem when they come to shore. Offshore the wave height may only be inches.
Yeah, but I was responding to Barrett808's post where he said that he guessed that the contraptions "will float just offshore." On the open ocean tsunamis wouldn't be much of a problem; regular ole wind-churned waves would be quite sufficient to wreck a "solar island."
I'd be much more concerned about hurricanes. For example, I don't think anything like this could be done off the Atlantic shoreline. The Pacific would probably be okay, though.
Kinda depends on where it is floating. If your are far enough out at sea, and we're not talking hundreds of miles you might barely notice a tsumani passing by that could easily devastate a coastal village when it makes landfall. However a cat five hurricane might be another matter entirely.
Having worked as a deep sea diver on oil rigs in the past and currently living in the greater Miami area I have a pretty healthy respect for the forces one might encounter out there on the great oceans of the world. Then again if you could sail these islands out of harms way given enough warning it might not be such a bad idea. I would love to see something like that kite surfing out in the ocean.
I wouldn't discount this for the US or Europe, as they both have solar CSP systems up and running now.
http://www.erec.org/renewableenergysources/csp-solar-power.html
"In Europe around 300 MW of solar thermal power plants are either operating or under construction. The installed capacity in Europe is expected to be of 500-1,000 MW by 2010 and an amount of more than 20,000 MW by 2020 is reasonable."
Yes. PV systems have a problem because they produce electricity directly, and electric energy cannot be stored easily/cheaply. CSP systems are thermal solar systems operating at high temperature values. They can easily store their pneumatic/thermal energy (high pressure/temperature) during the night. Of course you lose some of the stored energy, but the loss is economically and technically acceptable.
Another issue is the summer/winter issue. Solar systems provide more energy during the summer months, which is luckily when you also need more of it close to the equator (for cooling). When you build a solar power plant at a location farther away from the equator, e.g. here in Switzerland, you have a problem, because the solar system produces most of its energy during the summer, whereas we consume much more energy during the winter months (for heating).
So maybe you don't use it for power during the winter. You use the solar collectors for direct heat.
We need all technologies that we can get.
One of the beauties of small-scale solar solutions (collectors or photovoltaics) is that they are incremental systems. They may not provide the most efficient solutions economically, but economical considerations aren't the only considerations to be pondered.
A small-scale solar installation is something that every property owner with a bit of extra cash can do on his or her own, whenever it is most suitable. The technology is readily available; it doesn't take much of a planning; and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It should be possible to "convince" home owners to invest in such technologies either by suitable PR efforts or by legislation. Each installation on its own is a drop in the bucket, but together they can make a difference.
I'm also thinking that a universal power plant needs to be designed. Solar collectors to heat the working fluid, with alternate auxiliary fuel burners. No more pure fossil fuel burning plants.