...100 MW of Space Solar Power ...per single launch!
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From: Pat Flannery on 18 Dec 2009 17:21 Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: > "Pat Flannery" <flanner(a)daktel.com> wrote in message > news:brSdndnfoP9yJbbWnZ2dnUVZ_jNi4p2d(a)posted.northdakotatelephone... >> Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: >>> The one I'm hearing more and more about is compressed air. Not a >>> panacea, but apparently may be quite workable in many cases for peak >>> power loads. >> Huge air tanks if you want to run anything major off of it for any length >> of time...God help you if one ruptures, as it will take the whole building >> out. >> >> Pat Even as Greg was reaching for the keyboard of his compressed air turbine driven computer to reply, the composite air storage tank that had been weakened by the gnawing of bats during his last cave stay gave way, blowing him clean across the room... ;-) pat
From: Pat Flannery on 18 Dec 2009 17:45 Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: >> Huge air tanks if you want to run anything major off of it for any length >> of time...God help you if one ruptures, as it will take the whole building >> out. > > Don't think tanks, think sealed, underground caverns (for one option) > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed-air_energy_storage Oh, great...super-oxygenated giant mutant cave organisms. I for one don't want to see people getting eaten by ten-foot-long glow worms that get blown out of the compressed air pipes every time the power satellite gets eclipsed. As if they aren't bad-tempered enough to begin with, the sudden loss of air pressure as they emerge onto the surface will give them the bends, then they will get really nasty acting. ;-) Seriously, it does sound workable, although you probably want to steer clear of faults in case a earthquake releases the air through cracks in the cave structure. Pat
From: Greg D. Moore (Strider) on 18 Dec 2009 17:30 "Pat Flannery" <flanner(a)daktel.com> wrote in message news:GYKdnXEceqZydLbWnZ2dnUVZ_j6dnZ2d(a)posted.northdakotatelephone... > Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: >>> Huge air tanks if you want to run anything major off of it for any >>> length of time...God help you if one ruptures, as it will take the whole >>> building out. >> >> Don't think tanks, think sealed, underground caverns (for one option) >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed-air_energy_storage > > Oh, great...super-oxygenated giant mutant cave organisms. > I for one don't want to see people getting eaten by ten-foot-long glow > worms that get blown out of the compressed air pipes every time the power > satellite gets eclipsed. Admit it. You'd pay good money for "Mutant Cave Worms Gone Wild" now on DVD and Blu-Ray! -- Greg Moore Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.
From: Sylvia Else on 18 Dec 2009 18:58 Peter Fairbrother wrote: > Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: >> "Sylvia Else" <sylvia(a)not.at.this.address> wrote in message >> news:00185a93$0$2120$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com... >>> An obvious solution would be battery storage to balance supply >>> against demand. Pity we don't have anything that approaches being >>> usable that way. >>> >> >> The one I'm hearing more and more about is compressed air. Not a >> panacea, but apparently may be quite workable in many cases for peak >> power loads. > > There is also pumped storage, eg Ffestiniog in Wales. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity > > -- Peter Fairbrother Pumped storage works - but like hydro, you can't just decide to build one. You need somewhere suitable. In particular, you need to be able to store large amounts of water at two levels that are at sufficiently different elevations. Sylvia.
From: Sylvia Else on 18 Dec 2009 19:02
Alain Fournier wrote: > Sylvia Else wrote: > >> That's fine if you have something to run them on, but they usually run >> or oil or gas for sound economic reasons. Neither of those is an >> unlimited resource. A few are hydro, but mostly not, and you can't >> just build new hydrostations because you feel like it. You have to >> find a suitable location. The easy (i.e. cheap) ones get done first - >> and consequently have mostly been done already. >> >> An obvious solution would be battery storage to balance supply against >> demand. Pity we don't have anything that approaches being usable that >> way. >> >> I suppose the power not needed to meed immediate demand could be used >> to electrolyse water for use in our future hydrogen fuel cell cars (if >> they're ever actually viable), though electroysis plant is expensive, >> and the owners are likely to want to run it 24/7. > > Well 24/7 safe for two short periods in the year (twice 20 minutes if > I recall correctly) is probably good enough. Same thing for aluminium > smelters, they don't mind much shutting down twice a year for a short > period if it is a planned shutdown. I suspect there are many other > industries which would not mind much shutting down for two planned 20 > minutes periods per year. Um, no. You're conflating two different issues. The problem of generators being in shadow for a period around midnight is probably not that big a deal. But the problem of demand not being level (and a 2 to 1 variation over the day is not unusual) affects the economics all year round. Sylvia. |