Solar mecca—San Luis Obispo County could become the nation’s leader in solar energy

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/840092.html

Posted on Sat, Sep. 05, 2009

Solar mecca

Plans to build three large energy plants on the Carrizo Plain could turn SLO County into a nationwide pioneer — but the proposals aren’t without critics, who say the industrial uses would cause irreparable harm to the area’s environment and wildlife

By David Sneed

San Luis Obispo County could become the nation’s leader in solar energy if three large-scale commercial solar plants are approved to start operating near the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Two are photovoltaic plants that use solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, they would be the two largest photovoltaic systems in the world.

The third would also be the world’s largest of its kind: a solar thermal plant that uses the sun’s heat to drive electrical steam generators.

The plants could be online as early as 2013. Together, they would produce 977 megawatts of power, enough electricity to serve more than 100,000 homes. Not only are the plants large, they are also on track to be some of the first to come online, said Sue Kateley, executive director of the California chapter of the Solar Energy Industry Association.

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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/840084.html

Saturday, Sep. 05, 2009

How the three plants compare

By David Sneed | [e-mail]

The three power plants proposed for California Valley represent a range of solar power technologies.

Two will use photovoltaic panels. The other will generate electricity in a tried-and-true fashion by boiling water and passing the steam through turbine generators. It will use the sun’s heat to boil the water, called solar thermal — a technology used only at a few other locations nationwide.

Each of these technologies will bring its own efficiencies and benefits. Each will also carry its own costs and impact on the environment.

Carrizo Energy Solar Farm

Ausra Inc. of Mountain View plans to build a 177-megawatt plant adjacent to the site of a defunct Arco solar plant of the 1980s and ’90s and less than a mile north of the Carrisa Plains School.

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[Richard D]

1. Nothing much there . . .

. . . just this:

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. There was nothing much here either

http://www.ilovemountains.org/

[Richard D]

3. Yeah, it's a big problem . . .

. . . where to put all the new solar arrays. Would take close to 200,000 square miles to power the world with solar. http://www.landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127

Sucks, the idea of using pristine nature to do that. I'd far prefer roof-tops, already ravaged sites, etc. Putting something like that in an area as pristine as the area around a national monument, while not nearly as bad as coal or oil, would still devastate plants, animals, beauty, etc.

[bananas]

4. It's small compared to the land used for growing your food.

As the article you linked to says:
"There are 1.2 million square kilometers of farmland in China. This is 2 1/2 times the area of solar farm required to power the world in 2030."
Add the farmland in the rest of the world; the land needed for solar is small compared to this.

[bananas]

6. I like his charts showing how little area is required to power humanity with either solar or wind

Thanks for the link!
Total Surface Area Required to Fuel the World With Solar

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Here's a helpful comparison

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/solar/cfm/faqs/third_level.cfm/name=Concentrating%20Solar%20Power/cat=Applications

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Q: Do concentrating solar power (CSP) plants require a lot of land? How much, exactly?

A: Relatively speaking, no. Consider Hoover Dam, for example. Nevada's Lake Mead, which is home to the dam, covers nearly 250 square miles. In contrast, a CSP system occupying only 10 to 20 square miles could generate as much power annually as Hoover Dam did in one recent year. And if we take into consideration the amount of land required for mining, CSP plants also require less land than coal-fired power plants do.

It's hard to say exactly how much land is required for a CSP plant, however, because this depends on its generating capacity and the particular technology used. For example, a 250-kilowatt plant composed of ten 25-kilowatt dish/engine systems requires less than an acre of land. And a parabolic trough system uses about 5 acres for each megawatt of installed capacity. But in any case, the solar resource needed to generate power using CSP systems is quite plentiful. Imagine being able to generate enough electric power for the entire country by covering about 9 percent of Nevada — a plot of land 100 miles on a side — with parabolic trough systems!

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[bemildred]

5. I didn't know you could do that on national monuments. nt

[XemaSab]

7. Lame

There is SO MUCH tapped out farmland a few miles to the east that would be a much better option.