Australia's Energy Security - 24/7 Concentrated Solar Thermal Power plus Molten Salt Storage (CSP+)

PLEASE SHARE THIS VIDEO and, if you're an Australian citizen, sign this petition to build this kind of plant in Port Augusta - http://www.communityrun.org/p/rpa.
Very few Australians are aware of molten salt storage technology and how it allows us to switch to 100% renewable energy in a very short space of time.
Russell Beard of Earthrise goes on a tour of Gemasolar, near Seville, Spain - the first Concentrated Solar Thermal Power plus molten salt storage (CSP+) plant to produce energy 24 hours per day. This power tower plant produces 20MW, enough to power 25,000 homes but much bigger CSP+ plants are now being in the Middle East and the US that will produce 100MW and 150MW. Even larger CSP+ plants are possible.

Research by Beyond Zero Emissions (www.bze.org.au) and the Energy Research Institute, Melbourne University shows that a combination of

* energy efficiency and an upgraded grid plus a mix of:

* 60% CSP+ (comprising 12 solar regions each containing 19 220MW plants located in the high-insolation vicinities of Carnarvon, Kalgoorlie (WA), Port Augusta (SA), Mildura (VIC), Bourke, Dubbo, Moree, Silverton (NSW), Roma, Longreach, Charleville, Prairie (QLD)) and

* 40% wind (comprising 23 wind regions in Albany, Bunbury, Esperance, Geraldton (WA), Cape Jaffa, Ceduna, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Streaky Bay, Yongala (SA), Cooma, Crookwell, Orange, Silverton, Walcha (NSW), Ballarat, Mt Gellibrand, Port Fairy, Wonthaggi (VIC), Atherton, Collinsville, Georgetown, Stanthorpe (QLD)) and

* a small hydro/biomass backup for a few days in winter

can provide all of Australia's energy needs including those of transport assuming a fuel-switch from oil to electricity. Plans on Buildings, Transport, Land Use & Agriculture, Industrial Processes and Coal Revenue Alternatives will be coming out over the next two years.

Free signup to the latest news about renewables in Australia at:
www.reneweconomy.com.au
www.climatespectator.com.au

and for information specifically on Concentrated Solar Thermal Power and what's happening in the rest of the world but hardly in sunny Australia
www.csptoday.com

• Category

  Science & Technology

[vtwinbreed]

What happens when it's dark and cloudy for 2 or 3 days in a row?

[100pcRenewables]

The technology works within a large network of power supplies. In Australia, the network would extend from west to east and would include wind so when one source of power is failing others step in to fill the gap.

[jmw1500]

So basically the giant battery is the only impressive part of this video and you don't even describe what type of salt it is...

[100pcRenewables]

The giant battery is the "only" impressive part? CSP+ means that Australia can switch to 100% renewable energy (60% CSP+ and 40% wind with a small biomass backup). And, of course, other countries, depending on their insolation (and many countries are installing CSP much faster than we are - shown in an upcoming video), can do the same (or move to 100% renewables in other ways). The salt mixture comprises 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate which are commonly used as fertilisers.

[Dan Murphy]

Its not that this is a bad type of energy, it just does not make sense to do this Large scale. Make this cheap affordable home scale & your good to go! Large green means bad things for individualism... "Energy is not the problem, people that use it are!"

[100pcRenewables]

Yes, distributed energy is the ideal but at this stage photo-voltaic (rooftop) solar energy cannot be stored in batteries cheaply enough. Thus we need to produce utility-scale concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) because we can store heat in salt overnight economically to provide energy 24/7. CSP cannot be done on a domestic scale.

[ThePotatoKingUltraSp]

thorium>solar

[paverop]

I agree with you completely. We will never let this kind of technology come to the states though. Big oil will never allow it to happen here. We used to always be at the forefront of new and exciting things, but no more. We are 20-30 years behind everybody else when it comes to renewable energy. And people wonder way we have lost our place as the number one innovator in the world.

[John Nelson]

America need to use solar power as its' main source of energy.

if it does pollution will go down dramatically (because we wouldn't need to burn oil anymore) and energy will be cheap and available to everyone.

go to TRUTHCONTEST xcom and read the free book--------------> THE PRESENT

it explains how we can do this on page 53

pages 1-3 are also super important

[jbiasutti]

Idiot,

The tower needs to be high up to stop heliostats at the periphery being occludedby those further in.

The higher the tower the larger the parabola that can be made with the mirrors.

[jbiasutti]

They have them in Australia, they are called rooftop solar hot water. They provide free hot water to millions of homes, and the only place it can work is on a small residential property and piping hot water long distances is not economical.

[ghirardimarco]

amazing!

[Leslie Graham]

No it didn't. It can be spelled either way. Spanish splls it like that. You are a climate science denier and thus you have no credibility whatsoever.

[Leslie Graham]

Of course he missed it.

I'd bet the farm he's a climate science denier - they miss EVERYTHING for the sake of 19th century ideology.

[Leslie Graham]

Why on Earth would you want to make a solar thermal plant on a small property?

All the deniers have left is lies and straw men.

The energy revolution is here whether you approve of it or not.

If you want free domestic electricity then photovolataics are teh way to go. I know. I did it already.

But not everyone has a big roof or garden.

Commercial scale solar thermal (which runs 24/7) has it's place.

The argument is long over - of existing technologies solar is the future.

Carbon is dead already

[Leslie Graham]

Luddites like vtwinbreed are really just playing their last cards now.

It's been obvious to me for forty years that solar was simply a no brainer.

Back in the 70's it really was too expensive but if it hadn't been for the massive obstruction and propaganda campaign by the fossil-fuel corporations ( and who can blame them - $6 trillion of stranded assets is a great motivator) we would have been 20 years ahead of where we are now.

We have a free nuclear fusion reactor over our heads every day!!!!