New developments in renewable and nuclear energy
On the European continent, the recent foundation of the DESERTEC joint venture is the most important development.
Among
the twelve founding members are technical and financial institutions
and prominent electricity providers. Technical
members are again
Siemens, the biggest technical concern of Europe and the Suisse ABB.
Siemens and ABB are actually
competitors in the production and
installation of high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables, of which
ABB is the inventor.
These cables allow for tensions of hundreds
of kilovolts and the direct current has very low losses even at the
bottom of
the sea. The DESERTEC project is to establish
concentrated-solar-heat power stations in the Sahara desert that
together
with wind turbines and other renewable energy stations
will supply 15% of the European electricity. In addition, energy and
desalinated water will be supplied to the semi-tropical
EUMENA areas covered by the electricity grid. The solar heat
installations consist of arrays of mirrors that concentrate the
solar heat on pipes or on a kettle. The application of connecting
cables of the HVDC type is crucial for levelling the energy
output and the oversea transmission.
The
DESERTEC project can only be successful if geopolitical problems
between the involved countries will be solved. For
the approach it
is important that Spain is represented in the foundation by the
company ABENGOA Solar which brings in
expertise in technology and
experience in Spain, in Morocco and Algeria. Spain can keep the door
open for DESERTEC
to Morocco, which may become the first
stronghold in the desired geopolitical order. An extension of the
DESERTEC
membership to more countries and participating
industries is envisaged. There are numerous companies in Europe eager
to
jump on the bandwagon; several found their way already. In
India, Australia and other areas similar project are under
discussion.
The
solar heat solution to renewable energy production is expensive at
the moment but looks extremely attractive from a
technical point
of view. Like wind turbines, solar energy devices have a low capacity
factor: the sun does not shine at night
and stands low in the
morning and the evening. However, heat may be stored during the sun
hours in molten salt, a mixture
of sodium and potassium nitrate
and used during the night for producing hot steam for the same
turbines that operate
during the day. Electricity generation is
much more evenly divided over 24 hours and the turbines, the
electricity generators,
the semi-conductor devices and cables
need only be dimensioned for the average, not for a maximum load.
No such scheme is available for wind turbines and solar cells.
In
connection with the European commitment, the United Kingdom intends
to produce 15% of its energy from renewables by
2020, mainly by
making use of the strong wind along the British coast and the North
Sea. Government proposals of 4,000
wind turbines onshore and
3,000 offshore (Gordon Brown), or even 10,000 with a total capacity
of 25 gigawatts (Mike O’Brien)
sound very ambitious. It
stays all within the announced budget of £ 100 billion, but
requires the deployment of two or more
turbines per day in
average. However, progress would be made with the planned creation of
a factory for offshore turbines near
Newcastle by Siemens, the
world leader in this field. If the big 5 MW turbines are chosen for
production, only half the number
would have to be deployed for
reaching the target capacity.
The
effort of China is impressive. China explores all energy sources,
renewables and non-renewables. It has the biggest hydro-
power
installations and is conducting an immense program in wind energy.
The aim was to reach 10 GW by 2010, but it may be
20,GW or more
at that time. They now set 100 GW as a goal for 2020. The first of
six mega wind farms is being constructed
in Gansu in the
northwest of China.The first Chinese offshore wind farm is located
near Shanghai with a capacity of 3 GW. The
increasing penetration
of wind energy in the Chinese net leads to the same difficulties as
experienced in Denmark and Germany
and will certainly arise in
Great Britain and the US when wind energy becomes important. The
irregular supply of wind energy
must be balanced and the current
must be transmitted over long distances. The existing electricity
nets are by far not able to meet
the requirements and the Chinese
are commissioning new coal fired power stations to equalize the wind
electricity production.
Nuclear
energy must not be neglected. It is not enough to dispose of the term
“nuclear renaissance” as a propaganda
slogan of the
nuclear lobby. After a long period of quiescence the construction of
nuclear reactors is again advocated in the
United States and in
Europe, even in Germany which was leader of the anti-nuclear policy
for a long time. But the real push comes
from Asia where new
reactors are regularily commisioned, especially in China and India.
In Europe, the new joint venture between
Siemens and the Russian
Rosatom foresees a market of worldwide 400 nuclear reactors before
2030, in which they intend to
become the market leader.
In the past
decades, important new nuclear fuels and procedures have been
developed in India and in Russia. India developed
its breeder
reactor; the prototype should be completed in 2010 in Kalpakkam and
three units should be added before 2020.
This reactor can convert
natural, but also depleted uranium into plutonium and thorium into
uranium 233 – also a fissile material.
A Russian-American
collaboration developed a fuel mixture of which thorium is the most
important ingredient. It can be used in
existing reactors like
the Russian VVER and has been applied already in India. India has
developed its breeding technique
because it has little uranium
but a considerable amount of thorium and was excluded from importing
uranium due to its reluctance
to sign the Non Proliferation
Treaty. It has been claimed by opponents of nuclear energy that the
uranium resources will soon
be depleted. But if all thorium will
be converted into U233 and all natural and depleted uranium into
plutonium, and full recycling
procedures will be generally
accepted, there will be enough nuclear fuel for indefinite time. The
anti-nuclear movement should
take notice of the new developments.