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There are several ways to produce electricity from sunlight. The foremost of course is photovoltaic, in which electricity is produced directly from the cells. But one can also use concentrated solar energy to make steam, which then drives turbines to make electricity. Yet another way is to use the hydrogen that we produce with sunlight to make electricity. That can be done with either of two devices: (1) fuel cells, and (2) generator sets. Both have a role to play depending on the application. For example, for military applications, the fuel cell is quiet and emits no exhaust trace. For back-up power and remote site installations, there is already a total installed base of at least 2,000 small fuel cells. But for many applications, the hydrogen
generator set is the best economical choice. This is essentially an
internal combustion engine that runs on hydrogen, and turns a generator
armature to make AC electricity. Gensets are typically 1/10 of the cost
of an equivalent fuel cell on a kilowatt capacity basis, have 2 to 3
times the lifetime, are readily available, are easily worked on, being
known technology, and do not require the very high purity hydrogen that
fuel cells require to avoid fouling. Finally, the generator sets
produce water condensate that is clean and distilled, while fuel cells
mostly consume the water vapor. So for certain applications where one
would like to substantially get back the water put into the system,
gensets are the way to go. On the other hand, Nanoptek stores the solar energy in the form of hydrogen. There is no shelf life to speak of, there are no materials hazardous to the environment, and the weight to power ratio is much lower than for batteries. The cost of a steel storage cylinder, including the cost to compress the hydrogen to fill it, is much less than for the equivalent energy stored in a battery. Finally, the energy stored in the hydrogen works no matter what the temperature is. Municipalities: green mandate and peak load. Municipal electrical utilities are stressed by two fairly recent developments. The first is that they are being mandated by states to include a percentage of renewable energy in their portfolio. On the Federal level, this will likely be a 15% mandate. California, in particular, has placed carbon dioxide emission cap on their energy supply, and other states appear poised to soon follow their lead. The Mid-Atlantic State Alliance is considering a carbon tax by 2013. In addition to the green electricity required
for their energy portfolio, utilities face large peak loads that are
increasingly larger than they can provide for, causing brownouts and
selective blackouts. Many are forced to invest in expensive “peaking”
capacity generators, that are by definition only used during peak hours,
and so are not cost-effective, even with the higher peak electricity
price charged to customers (in many cases at least twice that of the
off-peak charge).
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