How Does Large-Scale Solar Power Work

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This article was submitted by Glenn Fay at Oakleigh. Glenn teaches science and writes a blog about sustainability, renewables and our social responsibility.

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Did you know that seventy minutes of sunlight is equal to one year of global energy consumption? [United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)].

Researchers are looking to the southwestern U.S. to be an enormous solar energy region as we look for ways to move beyond fossil fuels. How can we generate megawatts of power for consumers with the sun? There are two types of major large-scale solar power (“LSSP”) technology: thermal electric systems and photovoltaic systems.

The thermal electric systems combine heat transfer fluid (“HTF”), which is oil, gases, water/steam or molten salt and heat it up to 1,000 degrees fahrenheit, and push a generator and an engine to generate AC electricity. These include parabolic trough systems, dish/engine systems, solar power tower systems and compact linear fresnel systems. Note a previous blog post.

Photovoltaic systems (most of us know as solar panels) on the other hand, generate DC electricity directly using either concentrating photovoltaic installations or large-scale (non-concentrating) PV systems. There are some facilities operating now that have an output as high as 15 megawatts. What can large scale Solar Systems offer the world?

For one thing they can help avoid fossil fuel burning and help achieve carbon emissions goals. In fact, by 2020 experts project 10,000 megawatts of LSSP installed capacity in California, predicted from the industry and literature with two-thirds thermal electric and one third photovoltaic. According to Empowered Energy we could avoid 12.3-16.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions when compared to natural gas-fired generation.

In the now-operating systems in Nevada and California, they are finding that peak demand for electricity doesn’t coincide with peak solar energy output. So they are designing hybrid natural gas/solar facilities that will complement each other when demand is high and natural gas will be able to fill in the electric power gaps when the sun isn’t shining.

We think it is great that places with natural solar resources are building large scale solar installations that create cleaner electricity. We hope that the use of solar technology will encourage more research and development and improve efficiencies as we move forward into a chaotic climate situation.

This information was Presented by Lori Smith Schell, Ph.D. at the 32nd IAEE International Conference Concurrent Session 45 San Francisco, California 24 June 2009