Baseload solar

Dan Cass writes at Climate Spectator:

A recent poll confirms what I have come to believe after watching the global warming issue for 20 years; renewable energy is the only way to save the debate about saving the planet.

If the UN wants to make progress in the climate negotiations and closer to home, if Julia Gillard wants to win the next election, then the debate should be couched in terms of the tangible benefits of today’s solar and wind technologies.

A poll by Essential Research, conducted during Australia’s recent carbon price negotiations, shows overwhelming public support for investment in solar and wind, and that this support might just win the politics of a carbon price.

The poll shows that the public loves renewables, but that this sentiment is vulnerable to attacks from various clean energy detractors. Solar and wind have been politicised and companies need to step in and vigorously defend their interests.

Mudgee District Environment Group (MDEG) will discuss a proposal for a solar thermal power station for the Mid-Western Regional Shire at a public meeting next week.

MDEG spokesperson Bev Smiles said a feasibility study of the solar thermal power station project had found it would cost tax payers much less than the proposed Cobbora coal mine while causing no threat to water sources, farming communities, biodiversity or the earth’s atmosphere.

The 50MW solar thermal power station would provide base load electricity supplies covering up to 30,000 homes between Mudgee and Coonabarabran.

MDEG member Ian McAdam, who has researched the feasibility of a solar thermal power generator for the Mudgee area, will present the details at the public meeting on Thursday, September 22, at The Stables, in Market Street, Mudgee at 6pm.

By Patrick Hearps

If Australia is truly serious about avoiding climate catastrophe we are going to need to move towards a zero-emissions economy. A price on carbon emissions is an important component of climate protection policies, but a carbon price alone probably won’t do much to reduce emissions.

Modelling and history suggests we should be looking at incentives for renewable power instead.

An unacceptable risk

Everything we hear about climate science is headed in the wrong direction. It’s more likely than not that the 25-40% by 2020 reduction target originally recommended by the IPCC — watered down to 5-25% by the Australian government — is too conservative.

By Professor Sandiford is director of the University of Melbourne's Energy Research Institute. Published by The Canberra Times, February 18, 2011.

Today at Parliament House, the Gillard Government's Multi-Party Climate Change Committee will meet to continue its work developing a national carbon- pricing policy. Given that Australia's carbon emissions are heading in the wrong direction, these efforts are of increased importance. Recently released analysis from the Department of Climate Change estimates that in 2020, our economy will emit 24 per cent more carbon than in 2000.

Australia needs a coherent climate and energy policy to arrest its ballooning carbon emissions. It was encouraging to see the Gillard Government quickly assemble the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. Achieving a price on carbon is an important tool in the policy toolbox and should be implemented.

Originally Published in Engineers Australia Magazine - Power Engineering Section Page 58 Using molten salt to store solar energy could provide electricity 24 hours a day, equivalent to baseload supply, according to Matthew Wright, executive director of Melbourne based company Beyond Zero Emissions.

"There are plants in Spain operating with energy storage right now, providing electricity all night long," Wright said.  Molten salt storage uses common salts, such as potassium nitrate, which are readily available and non-toxic.  Using the sun's energy, these salts are heated to high temperatures and stored in insulated storage tanks.   When electricity is needed, the heat in the molten salt is used to create steam to drive a turbine.

According to the company, this sort of electricity is dispatchable, meaning it can be sent out on demand at any time of day, so it can replace the baseload electricity generated from burning fossil fuels.

"Solar thermal power with storage is proven technology, which will reliably provide the backbone of modern renewable electricity grids," Wright said.

FOSSIL fuel pirates and other opportunists have commandeered Energy Minister Martin Ferguson's Solar Flagship program.

The short-listed bidders for a slice of the $1.5 billion booty, courtesy of the Federal Government, was buried in a press release issued on Budget night.

It's not that the Solar Flagship concept is wrong. It's just that the companies that have been selected for the shortlist are second-tier, or worse, in terms of global solar energy.

The shortlist demonstrates an audacious tilt by gas, oil, coal and wind specialists, who should stick to their knitting and leave the large-scale solar sector to the large-scale solar sector.