Renewable energy sources are often overlooked in commercial power production not because the technology is lacking, but because the solutions are not economically viable. This is especially true of solar power. Although an increasing number of products use solar energy, there is currently very little commercial power that is generated from solar power plants.
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In May, GE announced a new type of power plant that ambitiously combines solar with natural gas and wind energy technologies in a way that could make renewable energy economically viable. The 530-megawatt plant is expected to debut in Turkey in 2015. It will combine the recently announced FlexEfficiency 50 power plant (above) -- which runs on wind power and natural gas -- with a solar thermal system by eSolar -- which uses an array of mirrors to concentrate sunlight and heat water to drive turbines.
Paul Browning, the vice president of GE’s thermal products division says that solar thermal energy is "the most cost-effective form of solar energy available today." As well, the sharing of some of the equipment between the eSolar plant and the FlexEfficiency 50 system is expected to provide an extra efficiency boost. GE tells Technology Review that although the combination of solar energy and natural gas turbines has been tried before, the addition of wind is a new innovation.
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The clever combination of these different energy sources may prove to be one of the keys to making renewable energy a ubiquitous fixture in the global energy grid.
Credit: GE
Tags: Alternative Power Sources, Electricity, Energy Efficiency, Fossil Fuels, Green Tech
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