Monday 9 August 2010

Weakness of Solar Power Plant was Eliminated

The solar power plant can be divided to two types (“Solar Power”, 2010, ¶ 1), Photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). PV uses a device call “Solar cell” to directly convert the energy from light to electric current; moreover, CSP is the process that transfers the heat from the sun through the parabolic mirror to water in the tubes in order to heat water inside to become a steam, then the steam use to produce electric current by turbine.

I used to believe that a solar power plant cannot operate at night or during cloudy because the main powers of plants come from the sun. However, I have to reconsider my belief after I read “World's first solar power plant that can work at night” on BBC news.

The Andasol solar power plant in Spain uses the molten salts to storage the energy from the sun in order to produce power at night or during cloudy. The molten salts are filled in thin tubes and to collect the energy from the sun through parabolic mirrors to storage tank.

In my opinion, it is a great idea to get rid of the weak point of solar power plant. In the Andasol, the melt salts can heat the water temperature up to 290°c and be used to operate plant turbine for 7.5 hours that adequate for operate through one night. Totally I agree to progress a renewable energy power plant. First of all, today renewable energy is the best way to reduce amount carbon dioxide in atmosphere that cause of global warming problem because the rate of release CO2 is lower than the others such as natural gas and coal. Second, although building the solar power plant is costly and low electrical current rate compare with natural gas and coal power plant; however, it high profit because the energy is free; in contrast, you have to pay for natural gas and coal. Lastly, I think geographic of Thailand are also proper for the renewable energy power plant because they have many of natural resource; therefore Thai government should to contractor or company who concern an environment and interest to investment in the same field as I expressed.
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References
World's first solar power plant that can work at night. (2010, August 5). BBC News. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=worlds-first-solar-power-plant-that-2010-08-04

Solar power. (2010, August 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solar_power&oldid=377618038

Environmental concerns with electricity generation. (2010, August 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Environmental_concerns_with_electricity_generation&oldid=377155594

The parabolic trough power plant Andasal 1-3. (2008). Project Description Document. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.solarmillennium.de/upload/Download/Technologie/eng/Andasol1-3engl.pdf
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4 comments:

  1. MATH9 August 2010 at 21:51

    Job,
    I agree that renewable energy must be used and it is a good way to solve global warming problem.
    But, from what I know, in Thailand the solar power plant isn't proper because of a low level of sun beam. Wind and sea wave is not proper too with the same reason.
    In Thailand, we have no severe climate that can change into an electric power. I think, but this will generated new problem, we may have to think about nuclear power plant. It produce very large amount of power which can replaces many coal power plants.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peter.AUA9 August 2010 at 22:45

    I'm looking forward to the day when we can use fusion power, which should solve all of our energy needs for a very long time. Unfortunately, fusion seems a bit more difficult than fission. When I was in high school, scientists were talking of fusion being a reality in a few decades, but I'm not sure if it's much closer today, although some promising research is being done by various international groups, such as ITER.

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  3. Pong10 August 2010 at 17:51

    I thinks solar power is preferable if we produce much more, this is economic of scales. However for many reasons such as the amount of power produced by the cells, they are fragile, and hard to install make it not the best selection choice for customer.
    My opinon about future energy is not the same as your. I'm look forward for free energy produce by magnetic generator. It is an energy produced by electromagnetic induction.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Peter.AUA10 August 2010 at 18:41

    Job,
    Did you write your post in MS Word or something and then copy and paste it in?
    Why might I think you did something like that?

    ReplyDelete

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