Eskom goes solar

[guest2013-1]

World's highest output solar power station puts out 392MW and occupies 1619 hectares of land. Our own ancient Koeberg station (almost 30 years old), takes up a fraction of the space and puts out 1800MW ... a bit like taking a knife to a gun fight no?

Most renewable endeavors will only ever be "auxiliary", if Eskom is serious about reducing their carbon footprint it is time to stop burning coal and start splitting atoms, a viable plan right this second which will buy us decades to dream about the tree hugging solution's feasibility.

Not if they convert sewage treatment centers into biogas plants

 

[voipnow]

I agree with AcidRazor
"municipality's waste-treatment facilities into biogas "
Have a look at http://www.Biogaspro.com http://www.biogaspro.com
Eskom & department of water should be giving subsidy for this "Free fuel " from waste. Unit is 100 % SA made and easy to install.

 

[HavocXphere]

If it only costs R20k I would have done it already.

To generate around 8kWp, for a normal MyBB household (PC's, refrigerators, TV's, washing machines, etc.) with very little room to spare, is going to set you back way over R100k. Then you are off the grid and on your own.

No I mean just the device to split it as I suggested is 20k. The 20k is on top of the 100k.

 

[Budza]

World's highest output solar power station puts out 392MW and occupies 1619 hectares of land. Our own ancient Koeberg station (almost 30 years old), takes up a fraction of the space and puts out 1800MW ... a bit like taking a knife to a gun fight no?

Most renewable endeavors will only ever be "auxiliary", if Eskom is serious about reducing their carbon footprint it is time to stop burning coal and start splitting atoms, a viable plan right this second which will buy us decades to dream about the tree hugging solution's feasibility.

Decentralised power generation.

Why do we need one hugemungous plant sending power out everyone?

Have a grid where all user plug into, with most of these feeding in from solar/turbines/whatever. Perhaps a Koeberg or coal plant or two to even things out, if needed. Soon the R300k to get 'off the grid' will be cheap in comparison to rising electricity costs. 2nd mortgage that stuff, and be home free after 10yrs, something like that.

I've got no idea of the cost, but I'm sure the total cost of a new nuclear plant per MW could be comparable to renewable MW if the money is used for subsidies. Subsidised renewables + feed-in tarrifs would reduce the load and increase the supply. The whole power distribution network is outdated, like movies and music & the resultant piracy.

Need to think outside the box...

 

[Paul_S]

Why do we need one hugemungous plant sending power out everyone?

Because generating power on a larger centralized scale is far more efficient.
I'm so glad that my neighbours don't run their own coal power plants.

Soon the R300k to get 'off the grid' will be cheap in comparison to rising electricity costs.

It's still a way off even with the 20% to 30% increases every year.
If your bill is R1000 per month then it will take 25 years to make up R300K.
You won't break even if you have to replace R80K worth of lead acid batteries every 8 years.

 

[ellraven]

saving is a more tangible option

A cheaper venture would be to convert each municipality's waste-treatment facilities into biogas electricity plants. It's much cheaper than putting up a few hectares of solar or wind or coal vs the amount of energy produced and the only "waste product" is fertilizer, which can be resold cheaply to curb some of the cost at running these plants. 500kW could be generated PER plant and we'd have an abundance of electricity at the end of the day. POOP POWER > SOLAR POWER

A even more cheap venture would be to be more strict on saving electricity, and implement systems in place to enforce it.. I see street lights on during the day and company office lights on at night, no amount of solar can counter that.

 

[dj_jyno]

Decentralised power generation.

Exactly. If you look at a satellite photo over some of the industrial areas in Cape Town alone, there is square kilometers of roof space available for photovoltaics. All that is missing is the economic incentive.

 

[agerbon]

Poop power = always available

Not to mention decreasing the methane emissions (which excrement from us and animals are the main contributors)

Would this make it possible to get discounts on electricity, if a person poops a lot.

 

[agerbon]

If it only costs R20k I would have done it already.

To generate around 8kWp, for a normal MyBB household (PC's, refrigerators, TV's, washing machines, etc.) with very little room to spare, is going to set you back way over R100k. Then you are off the grid and on your own.

I plan on doing this in the next few years.

 

[kilos]

Installing a solar farm next to coal fired power station, pollution on the panel comes to
mind
Great initiative