Posted on 03/05/2009 7:30:00 AM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
China is quickly moving into alternative energy in monstrous proportions. There will be an open-bid competition in March to choose a project lead for the construction of a 10 MWp (megawatt-peak) solar power plant in northwestern China. The plant is estimated to generate 16.37 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. This follows a previous investment in a 400 megawatt-peak wind farm, which costs $659 million to construct.
The Chinese government expects the plant to cover a surface area of roughly 247 acres (0.38 square miles) in the desert of northwestern China, according to Digitimes. The cost of the on-grid solar power-generating station is expected to be about $73 million. Were it scaled up to the 400 megawatt-peak level of the wind farm, it would cost in proportion $2.9 billion, making wind power more economical by a factor of over 4.4 times -- meaning solar power costs $7.3 million per megawatt, while wind costs $1.6 million per megawatt, without factoring in long-term maintenance costs).
(Excerpt) Read more at tgdaily.com ...
Heh heh heh heh heh heh
dude, China are better capitalist than USA these days
they are highly dependent on foreign oil.
They probably know damn well this will make libs push even harder for an inefficient means of generating power so as to crush our economy faster.
We’re hosed.
Hahahaha... suckers.
Peak. PEAK. PEAK....
Jeez. Typical nuke plant is over 1,000MW CONTINUOUS.
Wind and Solar DON'T DO SHT AT NIGHT.
WHEN THE SUN AIN'T OUT AND THE WIND DON'T BLOW, NUKE CONTINUES TO GLOW.
Peak is the key word here.
Agree. And think that solar is actually a good idea.
Cheap renewable energy with no moving parts, as opposed to wind turbines.
Not really very good capitalist, more like “wannabe capitlaists. As this article proves, utility-scale solar is simply not cost competitive, and would never be done if it weren’t for governmental support. Wind in the US is cost-competitive with other forms of generation, even considering the Production Tax Credit.
One thing that will help make solar cheaper for them than us is the fact that there won’t be years of court battles with environmentalists. However, they also don’t face an expensive problem of those pesky civil rights.
I understand the need to get off foreign oil, but at these costs just go with geothermal. I mean if you are willing to put that kind of cash up front, you can dig some very deep wells. Geothermal is very expensive unless the magma is close to the surface, but it pays dividends for year. And it is available 24/7/365. Heck you can probably rent a lot of the oil drilling rigs, and experienced people from the Russians, or Texans for that matter, now that the price of oil has dropped.
Beijing plan is to pay 1 million Chinese holding mirrors all pointing at the same water tower from sun up to sun down, until the robotic mirrors are operational.
85 percent of wind generated power requires fossil fuel power backup. In Texas, the figure is over 90 percent.
Sheesh
We should be developing the means to make energy on every front.
Solar, nuclear, shale, wind.
In our country the libtards hold solar in some kind of earth-worshipping reverence, but that shouldn't make us knee-jerk oppose solar or any other kind of power generation, so long as supporting it doesn't add to the growth of government or our tax burden.
maybe the chinese will do it...
a satellite lowers a wire into the magnetic field of the earth, generating massive amounts of electricity (already proven) and beams the energy via microwave to a specified point on the planet.
(of course, it would make a great weapon as well)
Wind turbines are the most costly source of energy when
you factor in maintenance, replacement costs, and down time.
I think the Rocket engines energy requirement to overcome the Drag would make this a huge net loss in the end.
you have energy... use an ion engine?
Projects like these give the chinese three things, initial demand for the design and fabrication of lots of solar and wind energy products, testing of these products, and when complete a model to show Western suckers. The Chinese aren’t building these for their own power needs or liberal fantasies. They are buiding them as marketing and research tools to sell us the same product. They know it’s not economical. That’s why they build nuclear reactors and coal plants by the score. They also know the agenda driven west will buy up these boondoggles. Crazy...like a fox.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.