Such a deal could follow in the footsteps of Tesla Motors Inc., the electric carmaker based in Silicon Valley that recently agreed to locate a manufacturing plant in Southern California in exchange for tax breaks to boost production (Greenwire, Oct. 29, 2009).
"We are going to be speaking to [Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa] and the L.A. Department of Water and Power about what it might take to build a plant in Southern California," said Ramirez, adding that if Ice Energy gets a big enough project commitment from the utility, a California-based plant is possible.
Reprinted from Greenwire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
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8 Comments
Add CommentJust one of SCPPA's many power stations can produce 4,000 megawatts.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut these 6000 heat storage units all together could sustain (assuming they were perfectly efficient) less than 79 megawatts over half a day.
6000
* 450 gallons
* 3.7854 liters per gallon
* 999.84 grams per liter
* 333.55 joules per gram
/ 3600000000 joules per megawatt hour
/ 12 hours
= 78.901 megawatts
Someone please tell me that my math is wrong.
BillSmith:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIts not the 79 megawatts that's important its the reduction in peak power demand.
Most energy is generated by large coal fired power plants. Problem with coal fired power plants: no matter what the energy output, they still consume almost the same amount of coal, to use some of this surplus energy when there is no demand, users get off peak discounts. Now you know why.
Power stations are built to cope with peak demand. This system increases demand when there is none and reduces demand at peak times by cooling buildings with melting ice.
Lets hope they recycle the water too and use additives to increase the thermal capacity of water when heating from zero centigrade to 20 centigrade. I don't know if they can improve the latent heat of melting.
You have a point about the peak power not being a whole 12 hours.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've gone back to look for a comparable system currently in operation. The Credit Suisse building in New York claims to have reduced their peak power by 900 kilowatts (17.578 watts/gallon).
Similar results from this proposed system would shave 47 megawatts off SCPPA's peak power. To be fair, this is a warmer climate, so maybe double the savings to 95 megawatts.
Compared to the 4000 megawatt peak capacity of just one power plant, this still looks like a pretty slim improvment to me. But 95MW is comparable to the capacities of SCPPA's wind turbine projects, and I suppose every little bit helps.
Perhaps a better way to tackle this would be to use solar thermal panels to power absorption cycle air conditioning. That way you get the maximum cooling when the temperature is highest.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.solarpanelsplus.com/solar-air-conditioning/
Note: I have no commercial interest in the above organisation!
Did they ever think about bringing back the old Swamp Cooler? When I went to college there, I lived in Handford and my apartment had a Swamp Cooler that kept to whole apartment cool when the temp outside was over a hundred.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat the Swamp Cooler consisted of was, a rust proof box, a thick straw filter, and a fan. A certain amount of water soaked the straw at a given time, the fan pulled outside air through the soaked straw and pumped the cooled air into the apartment. The temp inside stayed around seventy degrees and my power bill was very low; and if you purify the water, you do not have to worry about bacteria build up.
This makes a lot of sense. However, is not exactly a new idea. At my company we installed a similar system over 15 years ago.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJamesDavis thats to simple... swamp coolers are all over Florida but no one thinks about em in the rest of the country
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe have Swamp Coolers here in the California Desert (Palm Springs). Although they do not work very well when the humidity gets high (so I do not understand their popularity in Florida.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn fact, during the summer, the weather cast always include the dew point, and a statement of whether swamp coolers can work.