Canada's biggest alternative-power generator, Canadian Hydro Developers, generates 496 megawatts of wind and hydropower... theoretically. If its claims were true, it could power almost 400 average U.S. homes for a year.
In fact, this $720 million company's power supply is terribly inefficient. In the first quarter, the company only operated about 27% of the time from January to March. That means its true generating capacity was just 133 megawatts.
When we break down Canadian Hydro Developers' sales, we see that it earns about $82 per megawatt hour (which is one megawatt of energy supplied for one hour). That works out to about $720,000 per megawatt of capacity (hours per year multiplied by $82 per megawatt hour).
The company claims it will install another 185 megawatts of power this year. However, by its own estimates, those power plants will only produce about the equivalent of 66 megawatts of power. In other words, those new plants' planned efficiency is 37%... and will probably be much lower.
That puts the company's total paid power generation for this year at just under 200 megawatts. The company spends, on average, $8.5 million to build one paid megawatt of wind power and $4.8 million to build one paid megawatt of hydropower.
At $720,000 per megawatt of paid power generation, new hydropower plants will take almost seven years to pay for themselves. New wind plants will take almost 12 years to pay for themselves.
As you can see, the company must spend far more money than it will recoup in the near term. Canadian Hydro Developers' long-term debt soared 275% in three years... from $224 million in 2005 to $839 million today. That's about 10 times its estimated earnings for 2010, which is too high for my taste.
"Skim over the existing hot political air". Innovation is the life blood of every nation. We encourage an idea exchange on any topics that is break through technology-simple or complex.
Showing posts with label energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Ethnol is it artificial bust and wishful thinking
Burn our food as gasoline. Brilliant. Farmers love it of course, because, like 99% of Americans, they love government handouts. But growing corn consumes a lot of diesel fuel. Transporting corn consumes a lot of diesel fuel. And turning corn into fuel consumes a lot of electricity... which is produced by burning coal and natural gas. Which makes ethanol a huge money loser without government support. Washington's ethanol plan is taking its only natural course: Bankruptcy. As this excellent WSJ opinion piece outlines, most ethanol players have gone belly up. So guess what is on the way from our "bigger government is better" president? You guessed it: More money and more support. Read full article...
Wishfull thinking can be dangerous . Wall street That's pretty much the story of ethanol. Consumers were asked to suspend disbelief as policy makers blurred the lines between economic reality and a business model built on fantasies of a better environment and energy independence through ethanol. Notwithstanding federal subsidies and mandates that force-feed the biofuel to the driving public, ethanol is proving to be a bust. - the market economy rules not wishful thinking Sht
Wishfull thinking can be dangerous . Wall street That's pretty much the story of ethanol. Consumers were asked to suspend disbelief as policy makers blurred the lines between economic reality and a business model built on fantasies of a better environment and energy independence through ethanol. Notwithstanding federal subsidies and mandates that force-feed the biofuel to the driving public, ethanol is proving to be a bust. - the market economy rules not wishful thinking Sht
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
china solar plant
China building solar plant for 30K homes
BEIJING (UPI) -- China will start construction as early as next month on an experimental solar thermal plant capable of powering at least 30,000 homes, officials say.
China Daily reported Thursday that Asia's first 1.5-megawatt solar thermal power station will be built in a Beijing suburb at a cost of $14.7 million and start operating next year.
Wang Zhifeng -- who is heading up the project and is the solar thermal power laboratory director for the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- said the plant would be designed and operated by 10 Chinese institutions and companies, including the academy, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Huadian Corp. and Himin Solar Group.
Wang projects the plant -- which will cover 32 acres and include 100 curved mirrors that track the sun and redirect the rays to a receiver atop a 328-foot tower -- will generate up to 2.7 million kwh of electricity per year, equivalent to eliminating 2,300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from conventional power plants.
The receiver's concentrated solar thermal power will generate steam that will power a turbine used for electricity generation.
Solar thermal power plants are typically much larger than plants made of photovoltaic solar panels that use sunlight to produce electricity.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
BEIJING (UPI) -- China will start construction as early as next month on an experimental solar thermal plant capable of powering at least 30,000 homes, officials say.
China Daily reported Thursday that Asia's first 1.5-megawatt solar thermal power station will be built in a Beijing suburb at a cost of $14.7 million and start operating next year.
Wang Zhifeng -- who is heading up the project and is the solar thermal power laboratory director for the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- said the plant would be designed and operated by 10 Chinese institutions and companies, including the academy, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Huadian Corp. and Himin Solar Group.
Wang projects the plant -- which will cover 32 acres and include 100 curved mirrors that track the sun and redirect the rays to a receiver atop a 328-foot tower -- will generate up to 2.7 million kwh of electricity per year, equivalent to eliminating 2,300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from conventional power plants.
The receiver's concentrated solar thermal power will generate steam that will power a turbine used for electricity generation.
Solar thermal power plants are typically much larger than plants made of photovoltaic solar panels that use sunlight to produce electricity.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Car oil dependancy
Q: Is the U.S. actually "addicted" to Middle Eastern oil? Who do we import the bulk of our oil from?
A: I love this question, because our own president bowed to the uninformed public's pressure (what a surprise). In a speech on January 31, 2006, the president announced that the nation was addicted to oil. He didn't name the Middle East per se, but said we import our oil from "...unstable parts of the world."
I think the general public assumes that the Middle East is the source of our imported oil. But that assumption is wrong...
We produce 40% of the oil we consume right here in the U.S. And as far as being addicted to Middle East oil, look at this breakdown of U.S. oil imports:
Country % of Oil Imports
Canada 18%
Persian Gulf 16%
Saudi Arabia 11%
Mexico 11%
Venezuela 10%
Nigeria 8%
Algeria 5%
As you can see, we import more oil from Canada than we do from all the Persian Gulf states. It's the Canadians' fault, eh? Both Mexico and Venezuela are on par with the amount we import from Saudi Arabia.
OPEC oil makes up not quite half our imports, but much of that OPEC oil comes from the African members Angola, Algeria, and Nigeria, not the Middle East. Still, like in 1980s Hollywood, Middle Easterners are the scapegoats.
And truthfully, I don't agree with the idea that we're "addicted" to oil. Saying we're addicted to oil is like saying we're addicted to electricity or copper. Oil is a commodity that has elevated our society. Without oil, you have no airplanes, no Google, no Indy 500... you get the picture.
If you really want to do something meaningful about our oil imports, forget the idea of a substitute for oil. It's not about ethanol or biodiesel... That's just trading crack for heroin. Reduce your gasoline consumption. Fifty percent of the oil we consume is to produce gasoline for our cars.
Sorry to break the news to you, but that's it, that's the solution. There is no pill or patch to make it any easier. Become a one-car family... take the bus... get a fuel-efficient vehicle instead of an SUV troop carrier.
A: I love this question, because our own president bowed to the uninformed public's pressure (what a surprise). In a speech on January 31, 2006, the president announced that the nation was addicted to oil. He didn't name the Middle East per se, but said we import our oil from "...unstable parts of the world."
I think the general public assumes that the Middle East is the source of our imported oil. But that assumption is wrong...
We produce 40% of the oil we consume right here in the U.S. And as far as being addicted to Middle East oil, look at this breakdown of U.S. oil imports:
Country % of Oil Imports
Canada 18%
Persian Gulf 16%
Saudi Arabia 11%
Mexico 11%
Venezuela 10%
Nigeria 8%
Algeria 5%
As you can see, we import more oil from Canada than we do from all the Persian Gulf states. It's the Canadians' fault, eh? Both Mexico and Venezuela are on par with the amount we import from Saudi Arabia.
OPEC oil makes up not quite half our imports, but much of that OPEC oil comes from the African members Angola, Algeria, and Nigeria, not the Middle East. Still, like in 1980s Hollywood, Middle Easterners are the scapegoats.
And truthfully, I don't agree with the idea that we're "addicted" to oil. Saying we're addicted to oil is like saying we're addicted to electricity or copper. Oil is a commodity that has elevated our society. Without oil, you have no airplanes, no Google, no Indy 500... you get the picture.
If you really want to do something meaningful about our oil imports, forget the idea of a substitute for oil. It's not about ethanol or biodiesel... That's just trading crack for heroin. Reduce your gasoline consumption. Fifty percent of the oil we consume is to produce gasoline for our cars.
Sorry to break the news to you, but that's it, that's the solution. There is no pill or patch to make it any easier. Become a one-car family... take the bus... get a fuel-efficient vehicle instead of an SUV troop carrier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)