• Massive Solar Power Plant Opens In Abu Dhabi
    37 replies, posted
[quote]One of the world's largest solar power plants opened this weekend in the oil-rich city of Abu Dhabi. The 100-megawatt plant, called Shams 1, is a first step in a plan to make seven percent of Abu Dhabi's energy resources renewable, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, head of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, said during a news conference. Abu Dhabi is part of the United Arab Emirates, which are famed for their oil wealth. The emirates rank 13th in the world for per capita GDP, a standing driven mostly by their oil exports. The new plant includes a huge field of parabolic mirrors located in the desert about 74 miles (120 kilometers) south of Abu Dhabi. Shams 1 will serve 20,000 homes and cost an estimated $600 million to build, the BBC reported. Similar Shams 2 and Shams 3 plants are in the works, Clean Technica reported. Shams 1 is a concentrated solar energy plant, which means its technology is a little different from the flat, black photovoltaic panels you might have seen on people's roofs. Shams 1's uses mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy to heat a fluid, which produces steam to turn turbines to make electricity.[/quote] [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/largest-single-concentrated-solar-power-plant-opens-abu-dhabi[/url]
600,000,000$ to power 20,000 homes. That's 30,000$ per household. That is a lot.
Clean power is expensive. Though this was probably way overpriced because it's Abu Dhabi and i severly doubt they do ANYTHING cheap or affordable.
[QUOTE=The golden;39972173]What a waste of money. Holy shit there are so many other things that money could have been spent on. 600mil for 20,000 homes? Who the hell thought that was a good cheque to sign[/QUOTE] Yeh, clean energy is such a waste of money guys let's just keep using fossils fuels
[QUOTE=Cats meow;39972326]Yeh, clean energy is such a waste of money guys let's just keep using fossils fuels[/QUOTE] Nah we could rather put actual development into Thorium reactors and fusion, instead.
nuclear would be cheaper but no
Well if there's one thing the UAE has too much of it's sunlight. And oil. And money.
[QUOTE=Cats meow;39972326]Yeh, clean energy is such a waste of money guys let's just keep using fossils fuels[/QUOTE] Cost wise fossil fuel is still immensely efficient to solar energy and clean coal technology exists
[QUOTE=striker453;39972788]Cost wise fossil fuel is still immensely efficient to solar energy and clean coal technology exists[/QUOTE] Money isn't an issue to UAE and this solution provides almost zero environmental impact so what's the problem? The less dependent we are on fossil fuels the better. Also "clean coal" is such an oxymoron. The process might be clean in some sense but you still have to mine the coal which generates an absolute shitton of emissions
[QUOTE=The golden;39972173]What a waste of money. Holy shit there are so many other things that money could have been spent on. 600mil for 20,000 homes? Who the hell thought that was a good cheque to sign[/QUOTE] Id rather they spent their incredible wealth on renewable energy than building more artificial palm-tree shaped islands.
Or nuclear power
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;39972416]nuclear would be cheaper but no[/QUOTE] Nuclear is like 5-6billion per plant.
[QUOTE=EvacX;39972103]600,000,000$ to power 20,000 homes. That's 30,000$ per household. That is a lot.[/QUOTE] It's probably going to pay itself off long term.
[QUOTE=Brt5470;39973951]Nuclear is like 5-6billion per plant.[/QUOTE] 10x the cost and 100x the power output.
News article about development of [I]clean[/I], [B]sustainable[/B] energy. Everywhere else: Great, every bit counts! Facepunch: MUUH NUCLEAR POWER!!
Well, I would rather have a slow start than no start.
[QUOTE=Brt5470;39973951]Nuclear is like 5-6billion per plant.[/QUOTE] And powers about 6000x more than this
[QUOTE=No_Excuses;39974056]10x the cost and 100x the power output.[/QUOTE] That's only one more zero. Not worth it.
I wonder what the ongoing expenses for this system is compared to another. Do they have to clean the panels? Do panels break/get 'old' or something? Don't get me wrong, really cool seeing such a large scale deployment, but I'd hazard to guess that it probably is nicer to the environment than a wallet - even in the long run.
and then a sandstorm makes the whole think worthless for a while
Seriously though the place I work at has a contract in Abu Dhabi and I google mapped the address to see where it was and came across a "street" that had been turned into a lake, and each house was on its own little private island. Imagine your average american suburb but under water and the houses raised up and enlarged 50 times. The amount of money there is actually obscene. $600 million is probably one of their kids pocket money for the week.
Solar has always been a long term type of power. Right now it seems like a waste, but in 10 years, they will have saved a ton from using solar.
[QUOTE=bord2tears;39974238]I wonder what the ongoing expenses for this system is compared to another. Do they have to clean the panels? Do panels break/get 'old' or something? Don't get me wrong, really cool seeing such a large scale deployment, but I'd hazard to guess that it probably is nicer to the environment than a wallet - even in the long run.[/QUOTE] It's a parabolic trough; its a bunch of parabolic mirrors focused on a pipe. I'm guessing the maintenance cost would be pretty low because mirrors work well for years. [IMG]http://assets.inhabitat.com/files/azsolarplant3.jpg[/IMG]
This is cool, although I still think nuclear power will be the next major power source for society. Certainly doesn't hurt
In the long run wouldn't a solar power plant last for 100's of years if maintained? That sounds like a good investment to me.
[QUOTE=No_Excuses;39974056]10x the cost and 100x the power output.[/QUOTE] That's true, but it doesn't make nuclear cheaper. Certainly not for many years for it to pay itself off. Though I will agree, I'd go nuclear as well. Maybe they couldn't get the capital, idk.
The problem with nuclear power is that you get lots of benefit quickly, but you end up with a lot of shit (read: nuclear waste) later down the line. The idea that nuclear power is the answer to an upcoming energy crisis is a pretty bad example of harmful short term thinking.
I don't like these eco-buildings powerplants etc. They are like,the,epitome of ugly.
[QUOTE=Ogris;39972183]Clean power is expensive. Though this was probably way overpriced because it's Abu Dhabi and i severly doubt they do ANYTHING cheap or affordable.[/QUOTE] It's not necessarily clean - I was reading somewhere that the process for creating solar panels is hugely destructive. And when they're operational they still contribute to global warming. The black materials it's constructed of will retain the heat that's hit it during the day and radiate it at night, pumping warm air into the atmosphere at a time when the Earth has traditionally cooled itself In small, isolated situations it's not too much of a big deal, but when it comes to the notion that some people have of covering a desert or other open space with solar panels it's not a good idea
[QUOTE=Maloof?;39978631]when they're operational they still contribute to global warming. The black materials it's constructed of will retain the heat that's hit it during the day and radiate it at night[/QUOTE] Absorbing sunlight and converting to electricity, thus preventing it from heating up the atmosphere, doesn't contribute to global warming. That's the first law of thermodynamics at work. Maybe solar panels cooling off during the night could affect some ecosystem, but I find it hard to believe.
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