How to make solar energy the most cost effective.
The most cost effective way to harvest the suns energy would be to minimize the number of conversion processes in-between the photons and the usable electrons that we want when we want them. We also need to minimize the production and development cost of the system. I believe that the solution to this problem is a simple one.
We have all been kids playing with a magnifying glass, and have been in awe at the amazing power the sun can have when focused to a single point. It could instantly combust leafs. Taking this idea a step further, it is possible to cover a large area of land with mirrors and have those mirrors focus the suns rays to a single collector.
At this collector it is possible to have various different type of conversion process to get electrical energy. Most if not all of our current power plants use some sort of fuel to generate heat. Once they have that heat, the heat is then transferred to water and the liquid turns to steam. This type of process has been going on for a very long time, ever since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Steam generators have been optimized over their long existence and have comparatively high efficiencies.
The only new idea here is that instead of using conventional non-renewable, limited supply resources; petroleum, coal, uranium, and natural gas to generate heat, we would just concentrate photons to a single point just like a magnifying glass.
This idea is rather simple, but just as itself it has some drawbacks. If all we did was generate steam to immediately drive a steam generator, then we would effectively not be able to produce electricity at night. The Department of Energy has built a field that is meant to be a test facility for this problem. The approach that they took was to melt a salt during the day and then use the molten salt after sunset to continually drive the steam generators. This method works but has not been cost optimized yet.
We are currently in a 'perfect storm' to solve our energy problems. We are lucky to have political leaders not only acknowledging that we have an energy crisis, but also they are sparking discussion about what we can do as a country to try and overcome this challenge. Our federal government currently offers various grants to certain approved projects that will produce high amounts of electricity, mainly over 50MW during operational hours. One of these grants will provide 1/3 of the total construction cost. These types of grants are very important for industry to go forward. Because this market is still new and under development, a lot of investor are weary about placing large sums of money into projects primarily based on theory and assumptions and not years of proven data. We need to continue to provide assistance to business that want to start these projects because they are by far creating a positive ripple through our nation.
Other factors to this perfect storm are our dwindling economy and the lowering of our national security. By providing funding to this new market it will not only immediately create new jobs for the working and middle class, but it will start to kick our detrimental addiction to oil which has driven us to various battle fronts and the degradation of our planet earth.
Created By: Eric Coupal-Sikes
Created For: N.A.E. Engineering Grand Challenges - 2009
Undergraduate studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California
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