Solar power boost in California

It's not really harmful, any more than what you get from any type of construction. I suppose there could be an environmental impact from all of the Windex used for cleaning all those mirrors.

One of the problems with electrical power generation is transmission. It's nice if you don't have to send the power too far, but it seems the best places for power plants are often a long way from consumers. These mirror plants only work where you have a lot of sun and good weather. They would be a disaster in our area.

Tom

 

There is a big issue with SDGE's proposed Powerlink. It's going through state park. They're moving it into present easement. They claim that makes it free and clear. State parks claims it still needs review, environmental etc. due to larger line and taller towers. Residents of the towns it will go through, Julien, et al are not happy either. SDGE doesn't seem inclined to negotiate or come up with creative solution. They just want their way with no objections or impediments.

 

Its going to ruin Santa Ysabel and the beautiful valley

 

calibrate "ruin" for me:
1. global thermo-nuclear war
2. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
3. the world ends not with a bang but a whimper
4. Dudley's bread will glow in the dark
5. Damn, that's ugly
6. bad hair day

 

The following article may explain exactly the question you are asking:
http://csauth.ccny.cuny.edu/ci/cleanfuels/upload/Luz.pdf
Note that it is 15 years old and the parabolic plants are on the rebound with a vengence. Note that the area shaded by a parabolic plant is less than what the US paves in one day.

 

We can run the wires through the center of the earth to keep them short.

Tom

 

There is a company that stores solar energy over night to generate electricity, it is stored in a form which doesn't suffer losses with time too, I think it has something to do with ammonia. I'm not wise about these things.
From Wizard Power's web site,
"The ANU dish technology is the world’s largest and this contributes to its cost effectiveness. In the longer term, ANU’s associated Ammonia based thermo-chemical energy storage system can be substituted for direct steam generation, thus providing for 24 hour power production."
Wizard Power Pty Ltd - Solar Technology

 

It seems that the link is dead, anyone get it working?

Energy companies would be doing this if it were similar in price or cheaper than traditional non-renewable energy sources. While solar power is getting cheaper, there hasn't been a big rush in large scale deployments because it wasn't as profitable.

But with the ever-rising price of fossil fuels, and mandatory renewable energy generation requirements, it seems that energy companies are finally getting a clue.

It seems to me that SDGE could bypass a lot of these issues with the Powerlink by funding local power generation using solar panels on local businesses roofs as the proposed plan in Los Angeles does. How much will the Powerlink cost? It seems that that money would buy a huge number of solar panels.

Absolutely!

I think this would not be required with the appropriate temporary energy storage solutions you mentioned in point #2 (V2G) and others which are being used and developed (molten salt, etc).

 

SDGE is interested in selling power. Putting PV on businesses reduces the need for their electricity. They don't gain anything from it unless they own the panels and the power they generate. They don't buy any excess power generated. I know. So subsidizing PV for local businesses is counter to their profits.

SDGE thinks rules, regulations, etc are for everyone else, not for them. While I have no problem with them looking to alternative energy, etc. I have some issues with Powerlink. Besides the obvious, it has been put forth that they want to bring in power from coal fired plants in Mexico. I am NOT for using the Powerlink for this purpose. I also think the people directly effected by the towers and lines are being disrespected in the process.

This is not entirely out of character for San Diego.

Google Sunroad and San Diego and read about Montgomery Field.

 

Read the original article again... Socal Edison is leasing roof space from local companies to install their own PV systems - not subsidizing PV installs.

SDGE could do this and if done in a large enough scale (is 250 MW enough? What's the capacity of the Powerlink?) meet their renewable energy requirements and make a profit at the same time. If Socal Edison can do it, why not SDGE?

Edit: According to SDGE, the Powerlink can provide 2000 MW of power - to duplicate that with PV systems would cost $20 billion - So why is Socal Edison able to build 500 MW for less than $1 billion (though no mention of how much of the Edison project cost is the Beacon Solar Plant and PV systems). It seems that SDGE is bending the facts a bit here.

 

Yes, they *could* lease roofspace. In fact, I suggested something like that to them. That they basically pay to put PV on the roofs of all "ideal" roofs identified in San Diego. Put the largest array the roofs can accommodate. The owners get their power for free and SDGE gets the excess for free. Because SDGE doesn't "buy back" excess when you do it the way it's currently set up. Unlike OTHER utility companies. The guy I talked to blathered on some company line that basically said we're not doing that.

SDGE is interested in owning everything and selling everything.

As for bending the facts, they're talking about bringing in green power, from the desert as the reason they have to build the powerlink. But a map I saw showed the powerlink swinging south into Mexico where they intend to get the coal fired electricity. SDGE will basically say anything that will get them what they want.

 

How cool is that idea. We can do both, and pump hot electrons to the surface.

Tom

 

The core will stop rotating, our magnetic field will go away, and the now exposed Earth's atmosphere will be stripped away by the solar wind, like what happened to Mars. Earth will become barren and lifeless.

Other than that, nothing.

Seriously though, we can neither hasten nor slow the cooling of the Earth. It is the result of the radioactive decay of nuclei that occurs at precise rates regardless of what's happening anywhere else. The scenario above will transpire on some far future date without much regard to anything we might do. The heat from those decays finds ways to escape, through fissures or holes here and there. We just intercept a little of it on the way out to run some machinery.

 

Yeah, the convecting outer core, made of molten iron, is what protects our atmosphere from the solar wind. Mar's atmosphere was stripped away when it's magnetosphere died as the planet's core froze. Like Madler said, we've got more pressing issues to contend with. Nicking a little of that heat and putting it to work wouldn't be a good thing.

 

That's it! We kill two birds with one stone. Let's take all that extra heat from global warming and pump it into the earth's core!

Tom