Business Week: Low cost solar may be here

[greenman3610]

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_42/b4054053.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories


In late September, Ausra, Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG ), and Florida Power & Light (FPL ) announced commitments for 1,000 megawatts of solar power--as much as a nuclear plant. The details are still in negotiation. But the current plan is to start with a 10-MW demonstration plant in Florida, then expand to 300 MW. With PG&E, Ausra expects to kick off with a 175-MW plant. These facilities could be ready to flip the switch as early as 2010. The main lure: Ausra believes it has solved the biggest problem solar power has faced previously--its high cost. "What I find attractive about Ausra is that it's taking approaches used in the past and driving the price down, making it cheap," says PG&E CEO Peter A. Darbee. "It's lower risk and environmentally friendly. I'm very enthusiastic about the technology."

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There's a sense in the financial community that booms in wind and ethanol are over. The next thing? It looks like solar. "There has been a dramatic increase in deal volume on solar projects," says Keith Martin, partner at Chadbourne & Parke in Washington. "It is our fastest growing area of financing here."

This trend helps Ausra. In mid-September, the company hired a veteran utility executive from Calpine Corp., Robert E. Fishman, to be CEO, freeing O'Donnell to be the full-time evangelist. Ausra is also busy working on deals in Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada. "They clearly believe there are technology solutions to our energy challenges, and they are developing them while most in Washington are sitting around arguing," says Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, who has met with O'Donnell and Khosla.

[sendero]

1. Thanks for posting...

.. in addition to the mirror technology outlined here, there are promising new developments in solar panel technology also.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention :)

[leftchick]

2. this is just remarkable

brilliant! Check out the interactive! Very cool. :)

[Eurobabe]

3. Solar is huge in Germany, there is no excuse why

the US can't make more use of it. Tax credits, whatever it takes to get individuals to make their houses environmentally friendly, get us off OIL!!

[NewJeffCT]

4. I wonder how cheap solar would be if

we had had a national solar power initiative starting from the Carter years, when it was originally proposed.

[MadHound]

5. The boom in wind is over? When did I miss that?

I've yet to see a "boom". Sure, things are ramping up, and continue to ramp up. But boom, no. In fact wind's full potential has yet to really be tapped.

We're going to need both wind and solar, I'm glad to hear this news.

[greenman3610]

6. actually, wind power poised to provide base load energy too

http://watthead.blogspot.com/2007/07/texas-wind-power-mega-project-announced.html


Shell Wind Energy and TXU subsidiary Luminant Energy planning a 3,000 MW wind megaproject in Texas panhandle and are considering compressed air energy storage to firm and shape project's output



TXU Corp.'s generating subsidiary and Shell WindEnergy plan a huge Panhandle wind farm that could include the use of compressed air to generate electricity when there's not enough wind to spin the big turbines.

The 3,000-megawatt facility is slated for windy Briscoe County, southeast of Amarillo, Luminant Energy and Shell said Friday. That would rank as the world's largest single installation and roughly matches the wind farm recently announced by Texas investor Boone Pickens, whose Mesa Power is seeking to install 2,000 to 4,000 megawatts of wind power in four Panhandle counties.

The companies did not say when they expect to begin the project or what it might cost. They said they also plan to work together on other renewable-energy projects in the state.

"We are very excited about this project, using compressed air to provide power when we need it, without pollution," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Austin office, which has criticized TXU's plans to build more coal-fired power plants. He said that if all health and environmental costs are included, "this is the lowest-cost way to generate electricity," a view shared by Shell in recent testimony before the Public Utility Commission.


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http://www.isepa.com/about_isep.asp

In a CAES at the ISEP facility, air will be compressed using low-cost, off-peak electricity, and wind that is not being sold on the grid at that time. The air is stored in a deep underground geological formation for later use in making electricity. When energy is needed, the stored air will be released, heated and used to drive generating turbines. The electricity it produces can be used as needed, especially during high-demand peak hours. This process uses less fuel than a conventional combustion-turbine facility.