This is the second in a series of discussions led by invited speakers at the upcoming Physics of Sustainable Energy conference to be held March 8-9, 2014 at the University of California, Berkeley. Find more details below.
The new Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System located in California’s Mojave Desert is the world’s largest concentrated solar thermal power station. The first of it’s kind at this scale, Ivanpah’s 392 megawatts of capacity (enough to power 140,000 homes) is generated by 360,000 garage-door-sized mirrors concentrating sunlight onto a 40-story boiler tower. The heat from the sunlight boils water in the tower and the steam powers turbines.
The project cost $2.2 billion and was funded by BrightSource Energy, Bechtel, NRG Energy, Google, and a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U. S. Department of Energy. Ivanpah includes storage so that the solar energy generated can be stored and used during the late afternoon and evening peak in energy demand. However, solar companies are more environment friendly and can help you install solar panels at home.
Climate goals demand a roughly 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century (an 80% decrease from the 1990 baseline). In California, for example, the state has a 33% Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard for 2020, and is currently debating what the level should be for 2030. California also has a goal of one million solar rooftops by 2020, and has a carbon price (with a price floor and ceiling) in place, too.
Q: What do projects like Ivanpah mean for solar’s future? How do large-scale solar projects like Ivanpah stack up against distributed roof-top solar, and against carbon-emitting alternatives, like natural gas?
For a recent discussion and debate on the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System listen to this version of “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook and guests Julie Cart, Tonio Buonassisi and Daniel Kammen.
Reading:
Cheng Zheng and Daniel M. Kammen (2014)
An innovation-focused roadmap for a sustainable global photovoltaic industry
Energy Policy, Volume 67, April 2014, Pages 159-169h
Physics of Sustainable Energy Conference
Sponsored by the American Physical Society’s Forum on Physics and Society and several other research and education groups, this conference/workshop will be an intensive science-based survey by area experts of the full range of options for sustainable production and use of energy. The goal is to build up-to-date background for private and public sector professionals and academics active in energy affairs. Solar, wind, nuclear power, unconventional gas, smart grids, and a dozen other topics will all receive substantive attention. After the event, selected conference presentations will be available here at OurEnergyPolicy.org, and the discussion series will continue. Full details and registration information for Physics of Sustainable Energy can be found here.
Hi, Dan! CSP is certainly a key part of our hope of getting to an affordable sustainable world energy system. The key question is: what can we do to make… Read more »
I think that solar thermal very much has a place in the grand scheme. It is well suited to large scale production. The design lends itself to storage as well… Read more »
Projects like Ivanpah contribute to the dramatic growth of the solar industry, which is globally worth $100B. California employs one third of all solar workers in the nation (47,000) thanks,… Read more »
I do not wish to rain on the solar parade (which of course we all want) but I am concerned that appropriate energy analyses (e.g. EROI or Energy Return on… Read more »
Professor Hall is referencing photovoltaics, but the Ivanpah project is concentrated solar (thermal) power, an entirely different technology. CSP works in hot dry climates and in the USA, Luz constructed… Read more »
Thanks, Scott, for the information about what else is in the works for CSP. Maybe you, or someone else out there, knows more about the recently reported and intriguing Rawlemon?… Read more »
I’m not impressed by the Ivanpah facility as representing any big advance in solar energy technology. If they’ve done innovative things to reduce the cost of heliostat fields, I haven’t… Read more »
Daniel, Thank you for a very interesting posting, and for raising a very interesting and important project to our attention. My discussion relates to Ivanpah as it may fit… Read more »
I have some different information on Ivanpah than Daniel Kammen. – First the plant’s net output is 377 MW not 392 MW. – Second, and more importantly, it does not… Read more »
Regardless of the cost per watt, the scale required for anything close to an economical cost per kWh means that any new CSP plant installed in the U.S. will have… Read more »
Projections of major future projects like the Ivanpah are in direct conflict with articles in the NY Times “A Huge Solar Plant Opens, Facing Doubts about its Future” and in… Read more »
Herschel, It is refreshing to see someone else apply a bit of logic and physics and a proper sense of scale to these topics. I think the peer review process… Read more »
According to the EPA website, non-hydro renewables contribute less than 2% of electricity in the US. http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/non-hydro.html Of non-hydro renewables, wind is much bigger than solar, and wind is a… Read more »
Herschel / Ike I think I must have missed something in the tutorial discussion about Heat Sinks. Although I am not a proponent of the Ivanpah project, it has been built,… Read more »
Jack, For the heat sink issue, I think you answered you own question. Siting an air-cooled heat-engine, that happens to only run in the daytime, in the middle of a… Read more »
Ike, Thanks for the response. Obviously you know more about solar than I do. If the concept is really that bad, why would anybody risk investment capital? Is this some… Read more »
Jack, I believe Roger Arnold says it best above: Ivanpah “was primarily a project for harvesting subsidy money, not for advancing solar technology.” DOE aided and abetted BrightSource et al.… Read more »
Jack/Ike You may be interested in some direct quotes from the Energy Central article on Ivanpah: (1) Officials from New Jersey-based NRG Energy Inc. ,which co-owns the plant, stated flat-out… Read more »
Ike, Herschel, Wow! Thanks for the info, and for the education! What in the Hell is going on in my USA, if we are letting high sounding entrepreneurs sell us fabulously… Read more »
Herschel, Thanks for your last comment; Regarding item 3: I believe the comment may be addressing capacity factor. This would be the percentage of full capacity generated over a period… Read more »
I think large scale renewable projects have their place in the mix, for the next five to ten years or so. There is unfortunately still the issues not only of… Read more »
At 2.2 billion dollars, the 400 megawatt power plant has the electricity generating capacity rate of 5.5 dollars a watt. Using 3000 hours as the generating duty cycle a year,… Read more »