The Government of Queensland Australia is planning to add a new chapter to the ongoing story of renewable energy as it embarks on an ambitious scheme to build an AUS$7 million (£3,080,000) thermal power station that will replace conventional energy generation for the town of Cloncurry, a former copper mining town in the heart of the country. The ambitious scheme would make the town, holder of Australia’s record temperature (53ºC/127ºF), the first in the country to rely solely on solar power.
The Queensland State Premier, Anna Bligh, announced Cloncurry had been selected as the location for a “groundbreaking” 10-megawatt plant that will use 8000 mirrors to reflect sunlight onto graphite blocks. Water will then be pumped through the blocks to generate steam that will operate a turbine electricity generator.
A forest of mirrors, each three metres by two metres, will reflect the sun’s rays up into 50 10-tonne blocks perched atop 15-metre towers. Enough heat will be stored in the blocks to service peak daytime needs and overnight demand. Less water than falls in an average year on the power station’s roof will be used in the turbine.
Energy experts say solar power is best suited to small, isolated communities where access to the national electricity grid can be difficult or expensive. Small solar dish power stations have been installed at remote indigenous townships, such as Hermannsburg, in the Northern Territory. The state’s Energy Minister, Geoff Wilson, said the station in Cloncurry would deliver about 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to meet the needs of the entire community.
If estimates are correct the solar power station is expected to go online as early as 2010. It is a first for Australia, the Clean Energy Council said, and would generate enough electricity for about 3500 homes. “This is an example of the diversity of clean energy that is available in Australia because of the renewable resources at our disposal,” said the energy council’s chief executive, Dominique La Fontaine. An Australian company, Lloyd Energy Storage, designed the unique graphic-block storage system.
With constant droughts blighting the country, climate change has become a major topic of discussion down under particularly in the run up to the elections a the end of this month. The main political parties seem diametrically opposed in their stance on the subject with the opposition Labor Party keen to add Australia’s signature to the Kyoto Protocol whilst the incumbent Liberal Party under John Howard have reiterated that unless the big polluters such as China and the USA take the Climate Change pledge there is little point in the Aussies doing likewise, Interestingly though, despite its population of just 21 million Australians are per capita among the leading emitters of greenhouse gases on the planet, something not lost on those planning for the future. In addition to the Cloncurry scheme there are plans afoot for to construct a gargantuan electricity-generating solar tower in outback New South Wales touted as the world's tallest structure. The solar updraft tower would heat air in a giant, circular greenhouse-like structure. The resulting convection would cause the air to rise, moving turbines and producing electricity.
Aussies might want to keep the sun off their beer but that same sun could soon be generating the power to keep it cold in the first place!
The Queensland State Premier, Anna Bligh, announced Cloncurry had been selected as the location for a “groundbreaking” 10-megawatt plant that will use 8000 mirrors to reflect sunlight onto graphite blocks. Water will then be pumped through the blocks to generate steam that will operate a turbine electricity generator.
A forest of mirrors, each three metres by two metres, will reflect the sun’s rays up into 50 10-tonne blocks perched atop 15-metre towers. Enough heat will be stored in the blocks to service peak daytime needs and overnight demand. Less water than falls in an average year on the power station’s roof will be used in the turbine.
Energy experts say solar power is best suited to small, isolated communities where access to the national electricity grid can be difficult or expensive. Small solar dish power stations have been installed at remote indigenous townships, such as Hermannsburg, in the Northern Territory. The state’s Energy Minister, Geoff Wilson, said the station in Cloncurry would deliver about 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to meet the needs of the entire community.
If estimates are correct the solar power station is expected to go online as early as 2010. It is a first for Australia, the Clean Energy Council said, and would generate enough electricity for about 3500 homes. “This is an example of the diversity of clean energy that is available in Australia because of the renewable resources at our disposal,” said the energy council’s chief executive, Dominique La Fontaine. An Australian company, Lloyd Energy Storage, designed the unique graphic-block storage system.
With constant droughts blighting the country, climate change has become a major topic of discussion down under particularly in the run up to the elections a the end of this month. The main political parties seem diametrically opposed in their stance on the subject with the opposition Labor Party keen to add Australia’s signature to the Kyoto Protocol whilst the incumbent Liberal Party under John Howard have reiterated that unless the big polluters such as China and the USA take the Climate Change pledge there is little point in the Aussies doing likewise, Interestingly though, despite its population of just 21 million Australians are per capita among the leading emitters of greenhouse gases on the planet, something not lost on those planning for the future. In addition to the Cloncurry scheme there are plans afoot for to construct a gargantuan electricity-generating solar tower in outback New South Wales touted as the world's tallest structure. The solar updraft tower would heat air in a giant, circular greenhouse-like structure. The resulting convection would cause the air to rise, moving turbines and producing electricity.
Aussies might want to keep the sun off their beer but that same sun could soon be generating the power to keep it cold in the first place!
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