Google invests in South African solar energy plant

I just hope these installations are required to have demolition fund somewhere. In 50 years' time, when they die, these Mad Max movie sets will make any fracking site look like farm yard.
 
Skerminkel said:
I just hope these installations are required to have demolition fund somewhere. In 50 years' time, when they die, these Mad Max movie sets will make any fracking site look like farm yard.
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The projects do account for decommissioning at the end of the project life. I'm not sure why you call them mad-max movie sets thought?
 
Surely any Solar project will be a lot easier to demolish when the time comes, that a Coal or especially a nuclear plant will be?

Strange comment IMHO.
 
If you guys spot someone selling google panels from their boot let me know, I would like a few.
 
ElecEng said:
The projects do account for decommissioning at the end of the project life. I'm not sure why you call them mad-max movie sets thought?
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If you leave all those towers, roads security installations to rust (which will take a loooong time in the Karoo) it will look horrible for decades.

Electron1 said:
Surely any Solar project will be a lot easier to demolish when the time comes, that a Coal or especially a nuclear plant will be?

Strange comment IMHO.
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Yes, but the footprint/GWh produced are massive compared to "conventional" power plants. For example, Medupi will produce 4800 MW. That is 48 of the larger solar or wind power stations at around 100 MW each.

I am not against the technology, but we should be realistic about how "green" they are. Remember that there will also be roads, cabling, fencing, construction camps and permanent buildings on the sites. The Karoo vegetation is very fragile and will literally take decades to repair, even if all traces of the power stations are removed.

The solution, IMHO, is nuclear, but let's not go there today.
 
There's a 75MW pv plant planned near De Rust in the Little Karoo.

The Jasper Project is located in the Northern Cape of South Africa near Kimberly
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Btw, Kimberly is a girl's name. The town in NC has an e between the l and y.
 
you don't seem to understand the technology. These are photovoltaic plants. i.e. just solar modules on small structures, no central receiver tower or turbines involved. Why abandon a site when the plant reaches its end of life. The site would already have the correct zoning and most of the EIA work done so just recycle the old panels and inverters and put in new ones. in terms of how green they are, energy payback is around 2-3 years.
 
ElecEng said:
you don't seem to understand the technology. These are photovoltaic plants. i.e. just solar modules on small structures, no central receiver tower or turbines involved. Why abandon a site when the plant reaches its end of life. The site would already have the correct zoning and most of the EIA work done so just recycle the old panels and inverters and put in new ones. in terms of how green they are, energy payback is around 2-3 years.
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I was referring to PV, concentrated solar, wind power in general. All require large open spaces and all require other infrastructure. But yes, ideally the plants should be refurbished continuously to make them last 200 years. It is debatable though if they will be needed that long. No other tech has lasted that long yet.
 
Skerminkel said:
I was referring to PV, concentrated solar, wind power in general. All require large open spaces and all require other infrastructure. But yes, ideally the plants should be refurbished continuously to make them last 200 years. It is debatable though if they will be needed that long. No other tech has lasted that long yet.
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now you're just making this stuff up! wind power has been around for far more than 200 years (since the first century infact), hydro power too (national geographic recons for more than 2000 years). please check your facts before any other uninformed people read your babble and believe it to be true.
 
I think he is referring to the tech in the tech...solar power now is not the same as 10 years ago...
they use different methods materials etc etc...
 
ElecEng said:
now you're just making this stuff up! wind power has been around for far more than 200 years (since the first century infact), hydro power too (national geographic recons for more than 2000 years). please check your facts before any other uninformed people read your babble and believe it to be true.
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Don't get insulting. I am not talking about Archimedes' screw or wind pumps (mind you, there is an example of old energy technology still in use). The motor car is barely 100 and no one would even be able to use the old parts economically now. Commercial electrical generation is only 130 years old. Our country, where we are short on electrical capacity, is tearing down old power stations because it makes no economic sense to recommission them.
I maintain that it will be exceptional if people still use solar or wind for power generation in the same way a century from now.
 
Apologies, an it was an over-reaction. we are tore down some old power stations because they had reached their end of life and components needed replacing and maintenance not because the technology is substantially different. tear down coal and build new coal, etc. I see no reason why wind and solar generated electrical power won't be around in 200 years, we may see more efficient panels etc. but it is here to stay.
 
ElecEng said:
Apologies, an it was an over-reaction. we are tore down some old power stations because they had reached their end of life and components needed replacing and maintenance not because the technology is substantially different. tear down coal and build new coal, etc. I see no reason why wind and solar generated electrical power won't be around in 200 years, we may see more efficient panels etc. but it is here to stay.
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Apology accepted.

Thing is, we do not rebuild coal power stations in the same place as the old ones. Mostly because the mines that feed them run out, but also because of other developments, such as the two municipal ones in Cape Town. Who's to say that similar (or different) issues might not arise in another century and cause the removal of wind and solar power plants?

We should not blindly believe that these energy sources will magically save all our energy problems, while saving all the butterflies, whales and rhinos.
 
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