From the air, scientists map ‘fast paths’ for recharging California’s groundwater.
Credit: California Energy Commission
A new, low-cost method for making electricity from the sun is poised to transform the way California produces energy.
If approved by regulators, the new technology would help California reduce its high reliance on water.
It involves pumping water from groundwater aquifers and storing it for later use as electricity.
If approved by regulators, the new technology would help California reduce its high reliance on water.
A new, low-cost method for making electricity from the sun is poised to transform the way California produces energy.
If approved by regulators, the new technology would help California reduce its high reliance on water.
It involves pumping water from groundwater aquifers and storing it for later use as electricity.
The new technology – called “solar thermal concentrating tower” – could generate energy for homes or small businesses for about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, a fraction of the cost of new wind or solar power plants.
The technology, like other alternatives to fossil fuel, is on its way to gaining acceptance as a low-cost renewable source. But it is very early in its development.
“In the last two to three years, we’ve seen enormous technological advances,” said John Wunderlich, the agency’s chief energy policy analyst.
“But we still have a number of challenges that must be met, and the challenge that we’re most concerned about is meeting the energy needs of the future with a variety of competing technologies,” he said.
“One is solar thermal concentrating tower.”
That’s the technology in which California engineers are testing.
It involves pumping water from a water table that sits below the desert, where it is trapped by low pressure and high temperature. The water then is sent to two steam boilers that heat it to make steam.
That steam is then condensed in an absorption tower, where