New Infographics on Solar Thermal Heat for Industry Processes

The extraction of raw materials for the electronics we use daily is a thermally intensive process. Mined minerals, like lithium for batteries and copper for electrical wires, must be broken down, heated for separation, and dried to create their final product. This all requires energy which can easily be provided by solar thermal energy. Best of all, it is already being done at a massive scale in Chile. Take a look at the Gaby Copper Mine in the Atacama Desert. It has installed nearly 40,000 m2 of solar thermal collectors to support the electrolytic refining process of copper. This is more than 12 football/soccer fields big! Download the info graphic here.

The beer brewing process requires many steps to produce your favorite after work or weekend drink. Many require some degree of thermal energy, either to pre-heat brewing water, cook the ingredients together, or prepare hot water for cleaning. For example, numerous breweries around Germany and Austria use solar thermal energy as a core energy component in their beer brewing process. They have done this not only for the environment, but because it’s simply the lower cost option.

Take a look at the Hofmühl Brewery in Eichstätt, Germany. For over a decade, they have been using solar thermal panels to run their brewing process, covering over 60% of their annual energy needs. They even brew a “Solarbier” (or”Sun Brewed Beer”) that is fully produced with renewable energy. Download the info graphic here.

Covering another essential part of our day-to-day lives, solar thermal heat is also used to make steam. This plays a significant part in many industrial processes such as the production of pharmaceuticals, an industry with a substantial energy demand.

To achieve this, solar thermal heat is used to create steam as water is pumped through the solar thermal collector field, where it partly evaporates due to the concentrated solar irradiance. This “solar steam” is then stored in a steam drum and is released to the factory through a pressure-controlled valve within the manufacturing processes.

One highly successful example of solar steam for industrial processes is the located in Amman, Jordan. Here, RAM Pharma installed a Direct Steam Generation System in 2015, helping to offset use of its diesel fired steam boiler.

This new system provides up to 340 mega-watt hours per year, reducing diesel consumption by 42% while simultaneously buffering demand fluctuations and reducing the cooling load of the complex via rooftop shading (where the collectors are installed).

This award-winning project, the first of its kind in the MENA region, is a great example of the massive benefits solar steam can have in industry processes! Download the info graphic here.

"Wind and solar will never replace baseload generation, the constant electricity production typically provided by coal, nuclear and large hydro power plants"

Fact:

Wind and solar already provide periods of 100% renewable electricity coverage in countries such as Denmark, Germany, and in parts of Australia. In the future the importance of baseload will decrease as grids transform to having primarily variable generation supported by flexible and on-demand sources, such as energy storage. Strengthened interconnections, smart grid technologies, and load management strategies enable greater efficiency and better control, while providing flexible, reliable, and economical renewable based power systems.

"Wind and Solar are too intermittent for reliable grid operations and cannot be predicted"

Fact:

Wind and solar forecast predictions are increasing in accuracy, in time periods from minutes to several days. These forecasts provide grid operators with information about what the power output of renewable power plants will be to a high degree of certainty. This information then allows the operators to anticipate how to best control fluctuating loads with other flexible power sources to match energy supply to its demand. It also promotes demand side management, which are initiatives and technologies that encourage consumers to optimize their energy use.

“Expensive storage is required to further increase reliability and renewable energy use in the electricity grid”

Fact:

A minimum of storage in the form of batteries, hydrogen, and pumped hydroelectric will certainly support increased renewable energy and help prevent costly energy waste. However, increased grid flexibility and management, interconnections between regional grids, and dispatchable power sources, like on-site combined heat and power (CHP), allow for greater renewable energy integration even without storage while increasing power supply reliability.

“High quantities of wind and solar energy will destabilize the grid and cause blackouts”

Fact: 

Knowledge is power. The key is to install and manage smart systems that allow a smooth integration and control of variable electricity sources. This way grid operators can ensure that sufficient electricity is supplied at all times, resulting in a more resilient grid.  For example, the average blackout duration was cut in half in Germany after the integration of 40% renewable electricity.

“For every PV or wind power plant, an equal capacity of fossil fuel generated electricity must be running in the background, negating most of the carbon emissions benefit”

Fact:

Renewable energy and storage systems combined with other modern grid-management tools can reduce the number of operating fossil fuel power plants that must be run in the background, known as “spinning reserves”. This reduces net grid carbon emissions. The need for additional fossil-based power plants that can raise their output to replace renewable sources when the wind drops or clouds pass overhead will be minimal as the grid becomes more flexible and “smarter”. Several grids, for example in Tasmania, Uruguay and Costa Rica, already operate for periods of hours to days on 100% renewable electricity with no additional fossil fuel power plants running in the background, only requiring a small spinning reserve for any power generation, regardless of its source.

“The duck curve, which shows a late afternoon load spike as large amounts of solar energy go offline coincidentally during the evening peak electricity demand, will be very difficult and expensive to solve”

Fact:

Increased demand side management coupled with short-term balancing and electrical storage (possibly making use of electric vehicles adjusting their charging practices) can solve this problem without causing instability in the grid. This is already being explored by some grid operators by promoting “Time-of-day” pricing that encourages greater electricity use during the off-peak early-morning, mid-afternoon, and night-time hours.

“Excess renewable energy generation will be wasted, causing retail electricity prices to increase”

Fact:

There are many ways to utilize excess generation to provide additional benefits, including power-to-heat, (e.g. heat pump operation for district heating), pumped hydro storage, and hydrogen or synthetic fuel production. Not only does this create other valuable products, but they can also increase grid stability. In regions with interconnections, excess renewable energy can be exported to supply low emission electricity in adjoining territories, also increasing revenue.

“Transmitting renewable energy across the electric grid over long distances is highly inefficient and costly”

Fact:

Renewable energy generation can be very local in nature. Solar PV systems, in particular rooftop solar, are located close to consumers, effectively reducing transmission grid requirements.

For long-distance power transmission from large PV and wind plants in optimum resource regions, new high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines are efficient and allow for electricity exchange over whole continents, increasing grid stability and renewable energy use.