Think that industrial level solar power is not possible yet? Ausra, Inc and their Australian counterpart, Ausra Pty Ltd. would disagree with you.
With technology based on solar thermal power plants, they are looking to provide a sustainable power source that is infinitely renewable. Their web site indicates that a 1 square mile area can generate 180 mW of power and that the entire US could be energy independent in an area less than 92 miles on a side.
Using their technology, energy absorbed from the sun is used to heat water into steam, which turns conventional turbine generators. They do not put forward what the cost of this would be, but I think it is interesting to think about given the sheer dollars spent on coal and fossil fuels. To me, this makes more sense than wind power which currently requires significant boosting from other sources to clean up the power on the grid due to major fluctuations in the turbine speeds.
While I am certainly not an expert on this, I do know we need to reduce both our emissions and our dependance on foreign oil. We should look into as many alternative power sources we can. I think this idea and technology makes sense.
What do you think?
Brad
