It looks kind of like a lake but it is actually 120,000 solar panels quietly converting light from the sun into electricity. The environmentally friendly power plant is in Spain, covers and area of 100 hectares (the M.C.G. playing surface is 7.25 hectares), and is capable of powering 20,000 homes. I tell you, if the Germans with their giant wind turbines ever get together with the Spanish all our greenhouse gas emission problems will be solved.
Tags: Environment, Physics
February 17, 2008 at 3:37 pm |
The USA is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases, so just Germany and Spain cant eliminate our greenhouse gas emission problems. If you think about rapidly developing countries such as India and China, they are also a huge part of the problem. Reducing greenhouse gases is going to be a issue that every country in the world will have to come together to slove.
-Deep Patel
http://www.gogreensolar.com
February 17, 2008 at 7:32 pm |
I totally agree Deep Patel, my last comment was very ‘tongue in cheek’.
February 18, 2008 at 6:50 pm |
Not the biggest solar plant in the world, that accolade rightly belongs to California (Kramer Junction) where a 334 MW plant has been working since the mid 1980s. There would have been many more in the US South West deserts if the oil price spike of the late 1970s had not collapsed.
Those pesky Americans got there first, and they are the ones now leading the world in this essential and very viable new technology. See http://www.trecers.net for more details.
And by the way, the Spanish system has heat storage so it can continue producing electricity after the sun has gone down – a major advantage of solar thermal technology compared with PV. Spain is planning more plants, Algeria and Egypt are building plants in their deserts with the intention of offering electricity for sale to Europe.
March 16, 2009 at 3:21 am |
If the US doesn’t do more to stop Greenhouse Gases then we are in a lot of trouble.More people will become sick from all the gases being emitted in to the air that we breath.The citizens of the US should demand more Solar and Wind power.The Government should give the Cititzens of the country more tax breaks on solar and wind and more financial aid to make this possible.
September 16, 2009 at 7:29 am |
The cost of converting the DC output to AC using very bulky and expensive converters can be over-come by using the power plant used by high power wind mills. A simplified flow diagram of the system would be:
Solar cell array -> DC out to -> DC generator with step-down gearing to match existing wind turbine low speed -> wind turbine output is AC ready for connecting to power grid.
PS I have not seen any statements that high-power photo-voltain cells mys be cooled the water taken from water wells (another cost factor)
September 16, 2009 at 7:34 am |
What KO says about the ‘BAD” green house gased overlooks the physics.
The greenhouse gas is just a small fraction of all atmosperic gases. Water vapor is the most prevalent, Hundres time more than CO2. We happen to breath out CO2. SO how dangerous can it be. Chlorophyl converts CO2 to oxygen. A nice system.