3 to 5 Cent per kWH Solar Coming Next Month!

[John Coviello]

We all know that solar electricity currently costs anywhere from 25 to 50 cents per kilowatt hour, well above the 2 to 10 cent cost range at which fossil fuels and nuclear power are generated.  U.S. DOE predictions stated that it would be 2020 before solar would become competitve with other forms of electricity (of course it's not fair that gas, oil, coal and nuclear are subsidized, but that's another matter).  Well, now a company called International Automated Systems, Inc. (IAS) is set to start manufacturing a solar technology next month (September, 2005) that they claim can generate electricity at 3 to 5 Cent per kWH .  They claim their solar technology is 10 times cheaper to manufacture and operate than current solar technology, thus the major price per kWH drop.  They are looking to produce 200 megawatts of installed capacity per year.  They also have developed a bladless turbine technology that they claim is ten times cheaper than current turbine technology.  For details, see:  http://iaus.com/   Solar Energy   The solar collectors do not operate as photovoltaic cells. Rather, the sun's rays focus onto a heat exchanger which then transfers the heat to a highly efficient turbine, which in turn hooks directly to a regular AC electricity generator. Though the panels resemble a magnifying glass, they are in fact composed of thousands of microscopic refracting lenses on a thin substrate that is only about 1/8th of an inch thick, and held in place by a frame. The "thin film" manufacturing process is far less expensive than the photovoltaic cell manufacturing process. The prototype is rectangular in shape, with 15 panels on each half, each focusing on a separate heat exchanger that will reach around 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, driving the turbine. However, the manufactured product will be shaped like an octagon, about 22 feet in diameter; and will focus all the rays on a larger heat exchanger, which could get as hot as 4000 ºF.  That unit will put out about 6-10 kilowatts of AC power, enough to power a few homes. If one of the panels were to be broken, only that section of the magnifying-glass-effect would be taken out, reducing the energy output by whatever the percentage of the pane's area is destroyed.  The remainder of the system would continue to function.  The pieces are modular for easy replacement. The entire array is tracked to the sun to keep the sun at 90 degrees, perpendicular to the panels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bladeless Turbines The turbine has several remarkable features.  There are no blades on the turbine: it runs on the principle of a supersonic nozzle.  This also enables these turbines to be manufactured at one-tenth of the cost of traditional turbines.  The ceramic shield thermally insulates the turbine and protects it from corrosion and sediment build-up. A governor regulates the flow of steam through the turbine to prevent over heating.  As the steam exits the nozzles, it is immediately ionized, generating additional electricity, recovering up to 30-40 percent of what is typically lost energy in other systems. The turbine can run on any quality of steam, or even on very hot water.  It doesn't have to be "dry steam", which is usually the case with comparable turbine systems; hence the IAUS turbine doesn't require an expensive boiler.  In the case of a malfunction, the panels are designed to turn away from the sun. Having a wider range of operable speeds and driving temperatures, the turbine has a wider range of applications, ranging from cogeneration to geothermal tapping, to harnessing energy from landfill methane burn-off. The turbine is completely scalable up or down in size; and its cost is proportionate to the scale -- in contrast to some systems that are only cost effective at a given scale or size. The average efficiency of this array for converting the sun's energy to usable electricity, is around 20%, the highest being in the range of 30%. Solar Energy Storage Breakthrough IAUS has a novel solution to yet another typical solar short-coming: storage.  First, in the IAUS system, the turbine generates directly to AC, eliminating the expensive DC inverter step and the expensive storage batteries. IAS’s product operates on heat and produces heat as a byproduct. This energy can be stored using a chemical regeneration process based on a hydration-dehydration cycle. Thus when the sun is shining, excess energy can be dumped into the dehydration process.  Then, when there is no sun, the hydration process gives off heat to operate the turbine.  Finally, in this unique process we see a breakthrough to 24/7 solar power. This process has not yet been refined by IAUS to include in a marketed package, but they have tested it and proven it to work. Solar to Methanol -- Natural Gas Another process that the company is capable of involves a method of producing methanol from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.  This technology is already developed and in existence elsewhere, but their apparatus will make it more economical, to the point where methanol could be made available at approximately the same cost as gasoline. The UV energy from the sun will split CO2 (carbon dioxide) into CO (carbon monoxide) and O2 (oxygen). Then the CO along with hydrogen (H) bubbles through a catalytic unit containing copper and zinc powder suspended in a kind of oil. The CO and H combine into CH2OH (Methanol). The H is released through electrolysis from water. The catalytic process requires about 600 psi, and 500ºF. The heat from the solar collectors initiates the process, and once it takes off, it generates excess heat, which can then be used to turn the turbine, to create more electricity by which they can run the electrolysis. The IAUS concept is to produce methanol fuel using carbon dioxide -- a primary greenhouse gas -- from the environment -- at a cost comparable to gasoline. The CO2 could come either from ambient air, or from a smoke stack, to help clean it up the atmosphere. Being a very small molecule, methanol, or natural gas, burns much more cleanly and efficiently, resulting in less emissions when it is used as a fuel. This method solves the Hydrogen transport problem as well.  The solar panels generate electricity to split off hydrogen from water, and rather than having to then ship the hydrogen, which is problematic, IAUS runs the hydrogen through this process to convert it to methanol, which can easily be contained and shipped.