Friday, March 05, 2010
Making Solar Cheaper with Natural Gas
Florida Power and Light has built a solar power plant linked to a natural gas plant.
By Kevin Bullis
A promising approach to reducing the cost of solar power is moving forward with the construction of an installation in Indianatown, FL, that will combine a field of solar concentrators with a natural gas power plant.
Today The New York Times has an update on the project, which the utility Florida Power and Light (FPL) announced almost two years ago, and which we wrote about here. When completed later this year, the power plant is expected to generate up to 75 megawatts of power by making use of turbines at the natural gas plant, which itself has a 3,600 megawatt capacity.
The solar concentrators generate steam, which can be used to drive the turbines. Using existing turbines and generators can greatly reduce the cost of a solar power plant. FPL says the current project reduces costs by 20 percent, according to the Times.
Similar natural gas-solar hybrid projects are being built in Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria. There's also an effort to pair solar concentrators with coal fired power plants. Abengoa, the Spanish based company that's building natural gas plants in Morocco and Algeria, is working with Xcel Energy in Colorado to build solar coal hybrid test facility. According to Abengoa, such hybrids could cut the cost of solar power by 30 to 50 percent to as low as 6 cents per kilowatt hour, which is competitive with many fossil fuel power plants.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments
dmm
03/05/2010
Posts:244
In this case it's the other way around. Instead of adding gas burners to a solar plant, add solar heaters to a gas plant. The solar collectors generate 75/3600MW (2% extra), using existing turbines and generators in the already huge plant. Presumably they can reduce fuel by a little less than 2% at peak power peak day use.
If you don't have to pay for the turbines and generators, the solar add-on is substantially cheaper.
If we are going to have combined cycle gas plants anyway as backup for intermittent renewable energy, it makes sense to share some of the equipment.
carlhage
03/05/2010
Posts:46
Kevin Bullis
03/08/2010
Posts:126