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Future Solar Energy:
The Big Projects
This page brings you the best in large scale current and future solar energy projects. These developments show that sun powered clean energy technology is both achievable and profitable. Each of these is an important step towards a zero emission world.
The power generated by each project is stated in MegaWatts (MW). One MW is sufficient to power, on average, 1000 homes.
The enormous Desertec proposal for a series of green energy power stations across Northern Africa and certain Middle East countries offers to produce enough clean energy for all of the region as well as fresh water to boot.
First cab off the rank for Australia is the Solar Tower. This massive 200MW project uses a brilliant yet simple concept to achieve commercial scale power generation with zero emissions and low ongoing maintenance costs.
The Nevada Solar One 64 MW concentrated solar energy power plant and is due to become fully operational by 2011. It uses the same technology as previously constructed thermal solar plants constructed in the same state. However, the efficiency of this plant is 20% higher due to improvements in the design of the heat collecting and receiver tubes.
It is exciting and refreshing to see a corporate example of sustainable, alternative energy production. This 1.6MW Solar project was commissioned by Google for their Mountain View Googleplex headquarters. Already fully functional, this generates enough electricity to power over 1000 homes.
Next we have the CIS tower in Manchester, an office tower powered in part by renewable energy. This is the way of the future, and this project demonstrates that it is not just homes that can be carbon free but our large, power consuming CBDs as well. This is an excellent demonstration of the use of available surfaces for generating electricity. Well done, CIS.
The Saxon region of Germany is to be home to the Waldpolenz solar park, a 40 MW photovoltaic solar plant. This will be one of the largest power plants of its kind in the world. The project will occupy two square kilometres of land that was formerly used as a military base.
The Bahrain World Trade Center is the first building to incorporate large scale wind power. It is designed to take maximum advantage of this readily available energy source.
The Nellis Airforce Base in the Nevada Desert will be home to a 15MW photovoltaic solar power plant. In an effort to reduce their impact on the environment, the military base will have 25% of its total power requirements met by this project.
The Solar Energy Generating Systems: This massive 354 MW project is a conglomerate of nine individual solar power stations operating in the Mojave Desert in California, USA. These use concentrated sunlight to superheat steam in order to drive turbines. These stations also function during night time hours due to efficient heat storage.
The Bank of America's new green skyscraper sets the standard for future large scale constructions. While the building is still powered by conventional electricity, it's energy efficient design and water conserving features set it apart from the crowd.
The Australian Government is planning to commission the world's largest photovoltaic power station which will produce 154 MW of electricity. The project will cost $au 420 million of which the Australian Government is contributing $au 75 million. This mega-scale operation will use cutting edge photovoltaic solar technology.
The AndaSol 1 solar steam generator power plant is nearly complete. When fully operational it will contribute 50 MW of electricity to the local power grid. When this and the AndaSol-2 and AndaSol-3 future solar energy projects are complete, they will generate enough electricity to save 152,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
The solar tower of power in the centre of the PlantaSola-10 project receives concentrated solar energy from over 600 heliostats to drive a steam turbine. It generates 11 MW of clean electricity and is one of a series of underway and future solar energy projects that will eventually produce 300 MW of electricity.
The Serpa Solar Installation produces 11MW of clean energy to support Portugal's growing energy needs. This article on solar power gives details of this impressive project.
China's massive Solar Generator looks set to take the limelight with a multi-stage concentrated solar power plant that will be generating 1000 MW by the year 2020. The first phase will provide 50 MW and will commence construction shortly. This future solar energy project is to be located in the northern Inner Mongolia region.
****MORE FUTURE SOLAR ENERGY MEGA-PROJECTS TO BE ADDED SOON!****
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