Comments on: Making the most of Solar Energy http://www.neohouston.com/2009/09/making-the-most-of-solar-energy/ advocating urbanism in the opportunity city Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:06:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: George McKee http://www.neohouston.com/2009/09/making-the-most-of-solar-energy/#comment-469 George McKee Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:42:04 +0000 http://www.neohouston.com/?p=1431#comment-469 I was puzzled by the deal, too, until I realized that this is "peaking power". The greatest loads on electrical systems only last for a few hours, and they are typically powered by gas turbine generators. These can be brought online very quickly when needed. Other kinds of power come from steam turbines, which take time to boil the water and get it up to operating temperature and pressure. The problem with gas turbines is that they're inefficient, which makes their power comparatively expensive. In southern parts of the U.S. such as Houston, the times of peak power come on hot summer days, when coincidentally the sun is shining brightly and solar power plants are most effective. The T.H.Wharton plant where the solar farm will be built is already gas-fired. It's possible that it's already reached the maximum capacity of the gas pipelines that provide it with fuel. Building enough gas storage tanks and gas-turbine generators to handle the growth in peak load for Northwest Houston could well be more expensive. Getting the City of Houston to pay for all this sounds like a good deal all around, helping to promote Houston as the "energy conservation and renewable capital." I was puzzled by the deal, too, until I realized that this is “peaking power”. The greatest loads on electrical systems only last for a few hours, and they are typically powered by gas turbine generators. These can be brought online very quickly when needed. Other kinds of power come from steam turbines, which take time to boil the water and get it up to operating temperature and pressure.

The problem with gas turbines is that they’re inefficient, which makes their power comparatively expensive. In southern parts of the U.S. such as Houston, the times of peak power come on hot summer days, when coincidentally the sun is shining brightly and solar power plants are most effective.

The T.H.Wharton plant where the solar farm will be built is already gas-fired. It’s possible that it’s already reached the maximum capacity of the gas pipelines that provide it with fuel. Building enough gas storage tanks and gas-turbine generators to handle the growth in peak load for Northwest Houston could well be more expensive.

Getting the City of Houston to pay for all this sounds like a good deal all around, helping to promote Houston as the “energy conservation and renewable capital.”

]]> By: Solar power for Houston – Off the Kuff http://www.neohouston.com/2009/09/making-the-most-of-solar-energy/#comment-468 Solar power for Houston – Off the Kuff Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:11:00 +0000 http://www.neohouston.com/?p=1431#comment-468 [...] shouldn’t be too hard to overcome as the technology improves and becomes more widespread, and Andrew Burleson has some ideas on how to make the best use of solar power: As solar technology improves, however, [...] [...] shouldn’t be too hard to overcome as the technology improves and becomes more widespread, and Andrew Burleson has some ideas on how to make the best use of solar power: As solar technology improves, however, [...]

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