Giant solar power project.
Many people have heard of the solar tower project being constructed in Australia. It is over 1000 meters tall and will produce 200 mega watts of electricity by heating air at ground level which then causes the air to rise in the tower. It also serves as a green house. It is slated to go into operation to power about two hundred thousand homes in 2012. Spain has a prototype that is functional and has already been tested near Madrid.
There are as well various photovoltaic solar fields with arrays of solar panels that generate electricity directly from sunlight. The most popular large scale solar power projects are by way of the solar trough or parabolic trough system which concentrates solar heat to a focal point which in most cases is an oil filled pipe. The oil is heated to around 700ºF where it is pumped back to a heat exchanger which creates steam power.
The goal of all of these technologies is to reach a higher level of efficiency. Currently the most efficient system is the Solar Dish which has reached 30% unmatched by any other technology. Well hold onto your hats because what I am about to tell you here could probably double that or more.
The new system
What is proposed here is something that combines existing technologies and creates multiple sources of energy from the same plant. First we change the parabolic troughs into solar tubes; the bottom half being reflective and parabolic in nature; the top half glass Fresnel. This accomplishes two things: first the tube actually concentrates even more sunlight upon the oil pipe, second now we can pipe to the solar tubes cooler air from under ground, the air is then heated to high temperature as it flows along.
When the super-heated air reaches the other side of the solar tubes it is then directed up to the top of a hill where it is released into a super efficient vertical wind turbine that makes use of magnetic levitation which will produce electrical power. The super heated oil or other liquid is then pumped to an efficient heat exchanger which transforms it into steam power through a turbine system. And now the third source of solar energy is employed in the tube by way of reflective yet absorbent gallium arsenide solar film which would create high temperature photovoltaic electricity directly.
We can then store the excess super hot oil or other liquid substance below ground in a well insulated storage tank so that the system can continue producing steam power at night. As well any excess power production not being used can be utilized to electrolyze water and create hydrogen for the future automobiles that use this in one form or another. Or the hydrogen can be piped in existing natural gas pipelines to power distant communities.
Now hold onto your hats again because all that I have told you is not nearly as far as we could go with this. I am only one person and I have sort of held onto and developed these ideas for some time with some sort of mistaken idea that I myself was going to create all this on my own. I suddenly realized - not too long ago - that if I really was serious about creating a power evolution (a developing into a higher form or state) I needed to share my ideas with others or inspire people with my same passion. If we could expend even a fraction of the time and effort spent on the space program or other efforts such as the creation of the nuclear bomb we would have this done in no time. Our energy production and usage would be totally transformed.
And so I challenge all of you alternative energy buffs and financiers to not only test and perfect what I have laid out here but to go way way beyond this coming together as a group and pooling and correlating ideas and technologies. We cannot rely on government funds on this as they do not have the same priority direction. We can after having created something on the order of a power grid that is not only more environmental but is producing electricity for around five cents per kilowatt hour, ask for funds then for infrastructure. But I feel most of the research money must come from us as a group so that every bit of it is used efficiently and effectively. I feel what is possible is a plant such as this taking up about 500 to 1000 acres and producing about 10 gigawatts of power.
So let's just do it.
There are as well various photovoltaic solar fields with arrays of solar panels that generate electricity directly from sunlight. The most popular large scale solar power projects are by way of the solar trough or parabolic trough system which concentrates solar heat to a focal point which in most cases is an oil filled pipe. The oil is heated to around 700ºF where it is pumped back to a heat exchanger which creates steam power.
The goal of all of these technologies is to reach a higher level of efficiency. Currently the most efficient system is the Solar Dish which has reached 30% unmatched by any other technology. Well hold onto your hats because what I am about to tell you here could probably double that or more.
The new system
What is proposed here is something that combines existing technologies and creates multiple sources of energy from the same plant. First we change the parabolic troughs into solar tubes; the bottom half being reflective and parabolic in nature; the top half glass Fresnel. This accomplishes two things: first the tube actually concentrates even more sunlight upon the oil pipe, second now we can pipe to the solar tubes cooler air from under ground, the air is then heated to high temperature as it flows along.
When the super-heated air reaches the other side of the solar tubes it is then directed up to the top of a hill where it is released into a super efficient vertical wind turbine that makes use of magnetic levitation which will produce electrical power. The super heated oil or other liquid is then pumped to an efficient heat exchanger which transforms it into steam power through a turbine system. And now the third source of solar energy is employed in the tube by way of reflective yet absorbent gallium arsenide solar film which would create high temperature photovoltaic electricity directly.
We can then store the excess super hot oil or other liquid substance below ground in a well insulated storage tank so that the system can continue producing steam power at night. As well any excess power production not being used can be utilized to electrolyze water and create hydrogen for the future automobiles that use this in one form or another. Or the hydrogen can be piped in existing natural gas pipelines to power distant communities.
Now hold onto your hats again because all that I have told you is not nearly as far as we could go with this. I am only one person and I have sort of held onto and developed these ideas for some time with some sort of mistaken idea that I myself was going to create all this on my own. I suddenly realized - not too long ago - that if I really was serious about creating a power evolution (a developing into a higher form or state) I needed to share my ideas with others or inspire people with my same passion. If we could expend even a fraction of the time and effort spent on the space program or other efforts such as the creation of the nuclear bomb we would have this done in no time. Our energy production and usage would be totally transformed.
And so I challenge all of you alternative energy buffs and financiers to not only test and perfect what I have laid out here but to go way way beyond this coming together as a group and pooling and correlating ideas and technologies. We cannot rely on government funds on this as they do not have the same priority direction. We can after having created something on the order of a power grid that is not only more environmental but is producing electricity for around five cents per kilowatt hour, ask for funds then for infrastructure. But I feel most of the research money must come from us as a group so that every bit of it is used efficiently and effectively. I feel what is possible is a plant such as this taking up about 500 to 1000 acres and producing about 10 gigawatts of power.
So let's just do it.
By Rick_Phipps
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