Horace Heffner
Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:05:35 -0700
On Jun 23, 2008, at 9:50 AM, Michel Jullian wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Horace Heffner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 5:05 PM Subject: Re: [Vo]:Re: Nanosolar's 1 GW/yr solar cell printer
The content of some of my old posts on the subject are here: http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/BigPicture.pdf http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/EnergyCosts.pdfDoesn't seem to include solar PV (e.g. Nanosolar: $2/W installation cost, > 25 yr lifetime, negligible running costs, right?)
It does on page 3. See "Update Feb, 2007" for note on First Solar (FSLR).
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/Hpipeline.pdf http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/HotCold.pdf Similar problems will exist specifically for the USA - because land and sun are best in the southern desert areas, but adequate long distance transmission facilities, in terms of either price or capacity, are not available.Who needs deserts? Land _outside cities_ is cheap, and insolation acceptable, in most places, so in most cases it isn't necessary to carry the energy over long distances. So the existing power grid is already adequate for large scale deployment of municipal PV plants, which is indeed occurring as we speak, limited only by panel supply I guess.Michel
This strategy applies only to small towns, and only to a partial energy supply. It doesn't work well for cities like New York, where typical commutes are over an hour and land prices even 50 miles out are incredible, and land use is highly regulated by many very small patchwork communities, often literally only a mile square. It also doesn't work well where there is a lot of snow or overcast conditions. It doesn't work well for high power demand manufacturing areas. Farm land near cities is being snapped up by funds and investors, so it may not be long before regulations are made to stop the practice, or at least regulate the conversion of farmland to other uses, possibly though tax regulations. There is also the matter of energy storage, which could amount to the equivalent of an industrial process, and thus involve other regulations and limitations. It is notable that there is already a rush for California desert land by solar power providers, despite all the regulatory risks present for even that land.
I expect initially some of the big products for 3rd world manufacturing using solar energy will be fertilizer and water.
Best regards, Horace Heffner http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/