Todays Back of the Envelope I do not completely buy into solar power generation as a primary source for generated electricity. For one thing, peak generation for any solar panel spans only a few hours per day...on clear days. Still, I have a small array which can produce a little over 3000 watts for a couple of hours per day-- on a good day -- and it provides a reasonably adequate buffer between civilization and barbarism in case of an extended power outage as well as saving enough money on my electricity bills to enable me to recover the cost of the installation within the next 80 to 150 years -- no, not a Good Thing™. However, I have seen recent claims that a large, yet still relatively small solar array could, in theory, meet the electricity generating needs of the United States. The following is my back of the envelope calculation to check that assertion. According to the article to which I have linked below, the U.S. requires nearly 1 trillion watts of electrical generating capacity -- i.e. 1 terawatt. According to articles available on the Internet, solar panels can produce 8-10 watts per square foot. Therefore, 1 trillion watts could theoretically be generated using 100 billion square feet of solar panels. There are nearly 28 million square feet in a square mile (i.e. 27,878,400 sq. ft. exactly). After a bit of scribbling on the envelope, it turns out that 1 terawatt could be generated by 3600 square miles of solar panels which could be assembled in one large square 60 miles wide on each side. Big, but small enough to fit in a number of mostly empty spaces in the country where shade from such an array would be welcome. Not bad and not entirely unreasonable... Of course, it would be more practical to build a number of smaller large arrays rather than to build them all in one place. Also, it would help to spread the arrays out West to East to enable more peak production throughout the day...and then to consider building six to twelve times the array as well as flywheels or water reservoirs with hydroelectric generators to serve as energy storage systems so that power generated by the panels can be stored for use during peak electricity consumption, which does not coincide with the peak power generating potential, as well as at night or in the event of clouds or dust storms... Of course, existing hydroelectric generation, wind farms (while the windmills remain in good working order), nuclear power plants, and on-demand natural gas generating stations, could help distribute the load and diversify production. And then there are all of the other financial, economic, technical, and political considerations which must be taken into account... But 1 terawatts from an area 60 miles wide by 60 miles? That doesnt seem too outlandish. There might even be something practical that could be done.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:42:09 +0000
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