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Tag Archives: concentrated solar power
Concentrated Solar Power is unreliable, full of glitches, & has a low energy return
Preface. Concentrating solar power (CSP) projects usually sprawl in a circle over several square miles and can cost over a billion dollars. They use mirrors and lenses to capture the high temperatures needed to efficiently produce or store electricity. Almost … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Solar EROI
Tagged capacity factor, concentrated solar power, CSP, EROI
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Taxpayers are paying for a concentrated solar project — Ivanpah– that doesn’t work
Ivanpah in the news: Dvorsky, G. May 21, 2016. The World’s Largest Solar Plant Just Torched Itself. Gizmodo (Australia). Misaligned mirrors are being blamed for a fire that broke out yesterday at the world’s largest solar power plant, leaving the … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Corporate Welfare
Tagged concentrated solar power, CSP, ivanpah, solar thermal
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The potential role of concentrating solar power
Preface. The word “water” appears nowhere in this document, even though that’s a major limiting factor for CSP with thermal storage. Dry cooling is possible, but it lowers the EROI and raises the already way-too-high capital cost. An electric grid … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power, Renewable Integration
Tagged concentrated solar power, CSP, electric grid, thermal energy storage
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CSP Barriers and Obstacles
Location must be in the desert Southwest Unlike solar PV, CSP can’t cope with humidity or cloud cover, so it is limited to the southwest were the solar irradiation is high and there is no dust, haze, or smog. Solar … Continue reading
Posted in CSP with thermal energy storage
Tagged concentrated solar power, cost, CSP, land, location, water
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Concentrated Solar Power: location, location, location
Location, Location, Location: What follows is from: SBC. June 2013. Concentrating Solar Power. SBC Energy Institute. The best sites are between 10° and 40°, South or North. As you can see in the chart below, this makes a huge difference, … Continue reading
Posted in Concentrated Solar Power
Tagged concentrated solar power, CSP, DNI, irradience, solar thermal
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Is there enough renewable energy to replace fossil fuel electricity generation?
NREL. July 2012. U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials: A GIS-Based Analysis. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This document is a thought experiment that uses GIS mapping to estimate how much renewable power could possibly be generated in each state regardless of … Continue reading