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Energy future lurks where sun don't shine

 

In the fields outside Villanueva del Rey is the Gemasolar plant, billed as the world's first around-the-clock solar power plant, which consists of a concentric series of mirrors that focus energy on a central tower.

What sets this project apart from others is a molten-salt heat storage system capable of storing heat accumulated while the sun is shining for up to 15 hours after it goes down, making it the world's first solar power plant capable of producing energy 24 hours a day.

Renewable energy advocates are labelling it a "game-changer", as it directly counters the argument against total reliance on renewable energy - that it's not consistent, and that when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow there's no energy. Various Australian politicians - including independent Tony Windsor - have made the pilgrimage to Spain to inspect the station.

It demonstrates that the technology can work under certain circumstances, but economics are against its immediate widespread introduction as a new way of providing baseload power. It costs about 18 times as much to produce energy from this installation as it does from a gas-fired power plant.

According to its website, the Gemasolar plant can provide power for 25,000 homes. But apparently Spanish consumers are more frugal than their Australian counterparts, as the standard Spanish home consumes 12 kilowatt hours daily, while Australians consume 20kW hours daily. Thus the 25,000 Spanish homes potentially powered by the $300 million Gemasolar equate to 15,000 Australian homes.

Compare this with the gas-fired Darling Downs Power Station in southeast Queensland, Australia's largest and newest power station, operating for about a year. It cost $780m, more than twice the cost of Gemasolar, but has the capacity to service 400,000 households, more than 25 times as many people.

There is no doubt that more work on solar technology will bring down the price, while most of the efficiencies in gas production have already been made. But the comparison shows that the discovery of huge amounts of gas in various developed countries worldwide is likely to drive investment away from renewables and towards gas.

If you want to know more, read The Australian's full story.

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