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March 20, 2008
Enough solar power for 90% of the grid
Ausra: Solar Power Around the Clock, Enough for 90% of U.S. Grid : TreeHugger
Nobody can fault Ausra for lack of ambition. The solar power-plant maker has released a peer-reviewed paper claiming that solar-thermal electricity could power 90% of the US grid, with enough left over for plug-in hybrid cars. "The company estimates that such a changeover would eliminate 40 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions with a land footprint of 9,600 square miles, about the size of Vermont".
"How can that be?", you ask. "Isn't solar power only available when the sun shines?"
The way Ausra's technology works is that mobile reflectors concentrate sun light on pipes. Water goes through them and is heated up enough to produce high pressure steam, which then turns a turbine to generate electricity. The twist is that they also store enough hot water to keep going around the clock, or increase production on demand.
Posted by Sun at March 20, 2008 10:24 PM