There are some huge, new power plants being installed all around the world. PG&E has contracted with a 250 MW and a 500 MW solar plant in California. Another 250 MW integrated solar plant/manufacturing facility is being built in India.
The Clinton Foundation has decided to build a similar 5,000 MW facility in a different part of India. At the beginning of the summer a new 10 MW thin-film facility was claiming the record for that category and a 400 MW solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert was big news.
Three 400-Megawatt Plants Planned
BrightSource Energy has announced that completing by the end of 2012, it will be developing a 1200 MW solar thermal power facility at a site northeast of Las Vegas. The facility will consist of three 400 MW plants near Overton Airport and will also be responsible for upgrading the transmission infrastructure needed to bring the power to the grid.
Regulatory Hurdles Yet to Be Cleared
The state and federal permitting is expected to take about two years in addition to the construction of the facility, which is expected to take 18-24 months. Additionally, the plant does not yet have a power outtake agreement in place. This means that although there’s a lot of solar power available, which is not being used, there are still many hurdles that have to be solved before we can actually use this solar energy and take advantage from it. According to BrightSource, the power generated by this facility would be enough to power 900,000 homes.
Scale is Key for Solar to Displace Fossil Fuels
Solar power plants being planned and constructed of the same size as the fossil fuel based plants shows the basic change of trends that is needed. This type of expansion was compulsory especially when combined with decentralized power generation on people’s homes and businesses, to counter fight the increasing demand of fossil fuels.
You might also like
|
|
|
|
|
{ 0 comments… add one now }