Monday, October 30, 2006
SECIENCE: Worldââ¬â¢s biggest space-age solar power station
Australia has announced plans to build the worldââ¬â¢s biggest space-age solar power station as part of a $375 million radical rethink on climate change.
The government said it would contribute $75 million towards the cost of the photovoltaic solar power plant in the first of a series of projects aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
Australia, like the United States, has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the government is facing increasing criticism of its environmental policies in the face of the worst drought in living memory.
Finance Minister Peter Costello said the plant near Mildura in the southern state of Victoria would be the biggest of its kind. ââ¬ÅThe project aims to build the biggest photovoltaic project in the world,ââ¬Â Costello said.
The 154 megawatt power station will cost a total of $420 million and will be built by Melbourne-based Solar Systems, which says it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 400,000 tonnes a year.
The plant will generate clean electricity directly from the sun to meet the needs of more than 45,000 homes with zero greenhouse gas emissions, the company said. It will use high performance solar cells originally developed to power satellites, with fields of mirrors focusing sunlight on the cells. ââ¬ÅSolar Systems has developed the capability to concentrate the sun by 500 times onto the solar cells for ultra-high power output,ââ¬Â the company said.
A spokesman for the company said that there was one bigger solar power station in the world, in the Mojave desert in California, but it used thermal solar technology.
The project will reach full capacity by 2013.
With soaring temperatures and bushfires marking the start of another hot summer on the driest inhabited continent on earth, critics have stepped up their attacks on the governmentââ¬â¢s environmental policies, blaming global warming for exacerbating the drought. Australia produces more carbon dioxide per person than any other country in the world and is a major exporter of fossil fuels, which produce the gases blamed for rising temperatures worldwide.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\30\story_30-10-2006_pg6_9
SECIENCE: Worldââ¬â¢s biggest space-age solar power station
Australia has announced plans to build the worldââ¬â¢s biggest space-age solar power station as part of a $375 million radical rethink on climate change.
The government said it would contribute $75 million towards the cost of the photovoltaic solar power plant in the first of a series of projects aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
Australia, like the United States, has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the government is facing increasing criticism of its environmental policies in the face of the worst drought in living memory.
Finance Minister Peter Costello said the plant near Mildura in the southern state of Victoria would be the biggest of its kind. ââ¬ÅThe project aims to build the biggest photovoltaic project in the world,ââ¬Â Costello said.
The 154 megawatt power station will cost a total of $420 million and will be built by Melbourne-based Solar Systems, which says it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 400,000 tonnes a year.
The plant will generate clean electricity directly from the sun to meet the needs of more than 45,000 homes with zero greenhouse gas emissions, the company said. It will use high performance solar cells originally developed to power satellites, with fields of mirrors focusing sunlight on the cells. ââ¬ÅSolar Systems has developed the capability to concentrate the sun by 500 times onto the solar cells for ultra-high power output,ââ¬Â the company said.
A spokesman for the company said that there was one bigger solar power station in the world, in the Mojave desert in California, but it used thermal solar technology.
The project will reach full capacity by 2013.
With soaring temperatures and bushfires marking the start of another hot summer on the driest inhabited continent on earth, critics have stepped up their attacks on the governmentââ¬â¢s environmental policies, blaming global warming for exacerbating the drought. Australia produces more carbon dioxide per person than any other country in the world and is a major exporter of fossil fuels, which produce the gases blamed for rising temperatures worldwide.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\30\story_30-10-2006_pg6_9
