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Technology Review on Solar Energy Replies |
HenryTo
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HenryTo
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nodoodahs
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Joined: 06 May 2005
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 Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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Missed this earlier. Actually the more northerly latitudes are much better for passive solar, or even active solar during summer months, because of the greater seasonal differential in elevation and length of day.
Somebody suggested (jokingly?) that our out-of-work i-bankers could start making these by hand, in the desert, and generate greatly increased production.
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HenryTo
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Location: Los Angeles, California
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HenryTo
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rffrydr
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Joined: 30 Oct 2005
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Location: Sunny California
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HenryTo
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Location: Los Angeles, California
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HenryTo
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Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 11262
Location: Los Angeles, California
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| Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:56 am Post subject: |
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Generation capacity driven by solar power doubled in California last year, and shows no signs of letting up:
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2009/01/26/daily68.html
| Quote: | Homeowners, businesses and local governments served by private utilities put in 158 megawatts of photovoltaic power last year, an increase from 78 megawatts in 2007. One megawatt is enough to supply about 750 homes. Solar electric systems usually produce about 75 percent less than power plants that burn fossil fuels, so 78 megawatts of installed capacity would serve about 19,500 homes.
California now has about 441 megawatts of photovoltaic systems, which is the highest in the country.
The state Public Utilities Commission tracks solar-power systems funded with rebates authorized by the California Solar Initiative, which was approved by the legislature and governor in 2006 and started on Jan. 1, 2007. The rebate program has supplied $775 million of an estimated $5 billion spent for solar-power installations in the state, including 33 megawatts for residential and 45 megawatts of non-residential systems within Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s service area. |
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HenryTo
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diesel
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Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 793
Location: Australia & New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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Haha, good comeback. For those that dont know ’mort’ is old French for ‘death’ .
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rffrydr
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Location: Sunny California
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Let's just say that spreadsheet puts the "mort" in the word amortize. 
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diesel
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Posts: 793
Location: Australia & New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:51 am Post subject: |
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I wouldn't say the sun's price is known and amortizable indefinitely. Our sun is about 4 billion years old which makes it very ancient. Add to that it has been shooting out increasing amounts of x-rays lately which is a signal given off by a star just before it goes NOVA......
While we are on the subject wouldnt it be great if the US swapped the NASA and Military budgets around. Imagine the innovation and science that would come out of that! No more stupid foreign wars to worry about and the Europeans and Japs would finally have to defend themselves rather than sucking on the US taxpayer tit for protection. A win win for the US if I may say so myself.
| rffrydr wrote: | Remember, grid-parity is not necessary to be sustainable. The fact that the sun's price is known and amortizable indefinitely makes build-outs and financing possible in the context of carbon volitility. In effect, solar has room to be discounted by the price of its LEAP.
--And then there's the context of heavily burdened grids a al japan and europoe. |
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HenryTo
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rffrydr
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Location: Sunny California
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| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:56 am Post subject: |
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Remember, grid-parity is not necessary to be sustainable. The fact that the sun's price is known and amortizable indefinitely makes build-outs and financing possible in the context of carbon volitility. In effect, solar has room to be discounted by the price of its LEAP.
--And then there's the context of heavily burdened grids a al japan and europoe.
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HenryTo
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Location: Los Angeles, California
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| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:04 am Post subject: |
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Story (finally) picked up by LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thinsolar5-2009jan05,0,2265033.story
| Quote: | Generating clean electricity that's as cheap as power from fossil fuels is the Holy Grail of green-energy companies. A new solar project powering California homes appears to be closing in on that prize.
Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy in San Diego, just took the wraps off a 10-megawatt solar farm in Nevada. That's small by industry standards, enough to light just 6,400 homes. But the ramifications are potentially huge.
A veteran analyst has calculated that the facility can produce power at a cost of 7.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, less than the 9-cent benchmark for conventional electricity. |
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