For the last couple of months I've been researching what it takes to build a solar power plant. Not to power a single house, one that could power hundreds of houses. I know there are lots of companies getting into this game, but I think the more solar power plants the better.
So, I'm going to make one, hopefully I can convince other people to make them too.
One new solar power plant isn't enough to really make much difference, but hundreds or thousands of new solar power plants will. My concept is to create a non-profit organization that works like a for-profit company, but any money created by the production of solar energy will simply go into creating more clean energy.
The main difference I see between this type of non-profit and a normal for-profit entity is that the money itself isn't the end goal. Producing clean energy for future generations is the end goal. I hope with that in mind more people will be interested in donating their time and brainpower to make it happen.
To make the first solar plant will take the most work. We're going to eventually need funding, land and a lot of help. A few of my engineering friends and I have started designing different plans for the plant. We're working on machining our first 10HP steam engine for a prototype along with different types of solar boiler designs. Once we setup an organization, we'll post the ideas and research we've found to a website and allow anyone to help find better solutions.
It may be just as easy to get seed funding through a combination of online donations and grants than through venture capital funding. So I'm sticking with the non-profit plan for now, but I'm keeping any options open. I'm going to start by writing diaries of my progress, so keep an eye out. At the moment I'm looking for people that want to offer help. Not just engineering and research help, I mostly need help managing volunteers, donations and just general strategy help.
I'd like to hear your opinions on this idea. Is it good? bad? terrible?