Solar Thermal Comes To Namibia
Here’s an interview with 2GreenEnergy Associate Agostinho Miguel Garcia, who’s working on a very interesting solar thermal (concentrated solar power / CSP) project in Namibia – a country whose conditions are perfect for CSP.
Agostinho’s headquartered in Lisbon, but works all over the Eastern Hemisphere. Great guy.
In response to my congratulatory email, Agostinho writes: “Thank you! This is very important for Namibia. I hope this brings them on the CSP map.”
I hope so too.
It remains to be seen just how practical the CSP system will be in Namibia.
One of the problems with CSP electric systems is that they require water for cooling in addition to water for cleaning the mirrors. In a desert environment, that can be a problem. They are considering using the tower power system which generates higher temperatures than the trough system and therefore requires less cooling water than the trough system. Even so, they still require water for both cooling and cleaning the mirrors. It may be that the people planning the system are aware of that and have plans to deal with it, but I’ve learned that sometimes people who are supposedly experts overlook seemingly obvious things, often because of political pressure.
They plan to use salt tanks for energy storage to enable generation when the sun is not available and are apparently aware that the amount of storage is critical. Whether they can economically provide sufficient storage I don’t know.
If the land area is sufficiently great, and if sun availability is adequate, and if adequate storage can be provided, and if there is sufficient water available, and if costs are not excessive, they may be able to build a system that is practical when the alternatives are considered. We will have to wait and see.