Submitted by John O'Donnell (not verified) on March 8, 2008 - 5:03pm.
What I find most amazing about Mills' study is that only 16 hours of energy storage is needed to meet more that 90% of grid load today.
Arizona Public Service has just announced a 280 MW solar thermal project with 6 hours of energy storage -- ideally matched to peak-power requirements in Arizona. As economics change -- the cost of solar power drops -- building larger solar fields and larger storage tanks is simple economics.
Rainer Aringhoff of Solar Millenium, which operates Andasol, said at the WIREC conference this week that Andasol operates 24x7 in the summer months, and generates at full power 6350 hours per year (72% capacity factor, which is higher than Mills' assumptions in the study). Suitable storage technology is in commercial operation today.
American Electric Power has an interstate transmission study underway for integrating wind and solar power into the national grid. I love Caputo's comments, they mirror what Steve Chu of Berkeley National Lab has been saying: "Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System. Some president -- maybe our next president -- will build the Interstate Transmission System."
What I find most amazing about Mills' study is that only 16 hours of energy storage is needed to meet more that 90% of grid load today.
Arizona Public Service has just announced a 280 MW solar thermal project with 6 hours of energy storage -- ideally matched to peak-power requirements in Arizona. As economics change -- the cost of solar power drops -- building larger solar fields and larger storage tanks is simple economics.
Rainer Aringhoff of Solar Millenium, which operates Andasol, said at the WIREC conference this week that Andasol operates 24x7 in the summer months, and generates at full power 6350 hours per year (72% capacity factor, which is higher than Mills' assumptions in the study). Suitable storage technology is in commercial operation today.
American Electric Power has an interstate transmission study underway for integrating wind and solar power into the national grid. I love Caputo's comments, they mirror what Steve Chu of Berkeley National Lab has been saying: "Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System. Some president -- maybe our next president -- will build the Interstate Transmission System."