Kevin Bull, writes in the latest issue of the MIT Technology Review, that GE Combines Natural Gas, Wind, and Solar, cutting the cost of adding solar and wind, by 50%, to create the least expensive and easiest way to add renewable energy to the electrical production grid. This is the same technology I reported on June 9, in the second half of Solar is Competitive Says SunPower. Cost Will Fall From 13.9 to 7 Cents per Kilowatt Hour by 2020
"GE’s new gas turbine can also be run by wind and solar cutting costs for all. Credit: GE
GE claims this new hybrid plant is now the cheapest and easiest way to add renewable energy to the grid. But, in the spirit of scientific, and journalistic objectivity, and skepticism, I need to remind readers that GE just purchased a major stake in eSolar, and also has purchased global marketing rights to include eSolar's industry leading solar tracking technologies for mirrors in concentrated thermal mirror arrays, into these plants. But, this appears to be excellent news. Kevin Bull quotes the MIT Technology Review article:
GE has announced the first power plant to integrate wind and solar power with natural gas—a 530-megawatt plant that will start operating in Turkey in 2015. The power plant is made practical by a flexible, high-efficiency natural-gas system the company announced two weeks ago and a solar thermal power system created by eSolar, a Burbank, California-based startup that GE recently invested in.
Connecting a solar thermal system to a natural gas power plant, and thus eliminating the need to buy a separate steam turbine and related equipment, can cut the cost of a solar thermal system by up to 50 percent, says Jon Van Scoter, CEO and president of eSolar. Paul Browning, vice president of thermal products at GE, calls it "the most cost-effective form of solar energy available today."
GE's marketing literature says that "while combining solar thermal power and natural-gas turbines is not new, adding wind power to such a system is." And, the combination of eSolar's mirror guidance systems to the concentrated solar-thermal field runs the system at higher tempetures, and the resulting steam can be "fed into the steam turbine at a natural gas combined cycle plant to boost its power output."
And, eliminating the cost of adding separate generating turbines to a solar field, cutting the cost of solar by 50%, when it was already getting close to surpassing nuclear generation operating cost, prior to this breakthrough.
The natural gas plant also smoothes out variations from the wind turbines. ...
The solar concentrator array from eSolar helps lower costs in two ways—its modular concentrator system is easy to install and easy to modify for the needs of specific plants. It also produces higher temperature steam than some previous solar thermal systems, increasing power output. GE has also developed a natural gas power plant that is highly efficient, and whose power output can easily be adjusted to make up for variations in power output from solar power.
Connecting a solar thermal system to a natural gas power plant, and thus eliminating the need to buy a separate steam turbine and related equipment, can cut the cost of a solar thermal system by up to 50 percent, says Jon Van Scoter, CEO and president of eSolar. Paul Browning, vice president of thermal products at GE, calls it "the most cost-effective form of solar energy available today."
Notice that these systems also solve the "intermittency" challenge with solar, and wind, and might be nicked named "nuke-killers" as, as far as I can see now, they refute any remaining arguments the nuclear industry has been arguing require us to build more nuclear plants.
Also, notice that GE predicts the new plant I reported they won the competitive bid on June 9, 2011, will be producing power by 2015. The current backlog for casting the primary containment vessel for a nuclear plant is 10 years. Nuclear plants typically take 10 to 13 years to get through the planning, permitting, and building phases. And, this number is prior to any technological or political delays, that might arise as a consequence of the Fukushima accident.
This might explain the curiosity some of you may perceive of GE launching this hybrid "nuke-killer" technology, while it owns and operates a separate division that is one of the largest builders, and supplier of nuclear generation technology. GE seems to realize where the future growth opportunities are. I remember long ago, teaching a business strategy case study, wherein, under the tutelage of Jack Welsch, GE adopted the Portfolio Management strategy of being the first to attack your own market leading products with innovative replacement, before you competitors can do it.
As, this diary is already long, those interested primarily in the GE gas turbine hybrid can skip these comments below on nuclear plants, and fracking for natural gas.
Towards a Democratic Consensus Alternative Energy Proposal For Converting the US to Renewable Energy Production.
One point I wish to forge a better mutual understanding of in the upcoming months is the nuclear industry lobby's talking point that we can not reduce our reliance on coal and nuclear energy production, which I believe is now inaccurate.
Also, inaccurate, I believe is the assumption that we do not have abundant natural gas supplies without using the dangerous and unacceptable fracking methods I oppose.
Global natural gas reserves producible without the kinds of dangerous fracking described in the US are sufficient to allow us to use hybrid solar, wind, and natural gas plant as a stepping stone to a full transition to a renewable energy future.
On my last trips to Malaysia and Nigeria to work with the government and oil companies there confirmed that enormous amounts of natural gas has been flared (burnt off) by oil companies recovering oil.
The problem with natural gas, is that it requires conversion to LGN to be transported, and traditional contracts for natural gas, have been complicated full-life cycles affairs requiring decades long commitments from customers, producers, transportation companies, utilities, etc.
Both, Malaysia and Nigeria have passed laws requiring oil companies to capture and market as much of this natural gas as possible. This new hybred gas plant appears to be the perfect way to do this, adjacent to gas production fields, eliminating the costly, time consuming natural gas liquification process.
While I agree, there are still obstacles, in contracting long-term natural gas supply, especially in the US, globally, we have more than sufficient supplies with natural gas without fracking to not have to build any more nuclear or coal plants, and due to their environmental and safety problems, I do not support building any more nuclear or coal plants at this point.
I agree that we will have to continue to operate the fraction of our nuclear plants that are more modern and safer than the older plants, until we can replace them with renewable, and we should make them safer requiring dry casking for all spent fuel rods over five years old. Older, unsafe plants, should not be relicensed, IMO. And, do not need to be relicensed, although, I am still analysing the data and analysis on this last point.
Even With Dry Casking, Nuclear Power Plants Will Need to Store Spent Fuel Rods, Less than 5 Years Old At Plant Sites
I believe I was the first in this site to call for this, after the March 15, 2011 Robert Alvarez article on this.
However, spent fuel waste can not be dry casked in their first five years, and will still be held in dangerous spent fuel ponds at the plant sites, as what Robert Alvarez describes as dirty bomb waiting to happen.
Whatever, your own beliefs are, I think all of us in the Democratic Party can be increasinly optimistic that we seem to have increasing numbers of energy options enabling us to evolve more quickly to cleaner, more efficient, and diverse energy production technologies.
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