Copy that, with bells on!

Colour me cynical, but China are going ahead full bore with coal and nuclear also. I believe they’ve declared renewable energy as a strategic industry and have an overriding interest in being in front of the pack in manufacturing the where-with-all.

Central to the project will be its operation under a government feed-in-tariff scheme. According to Ahearn, a long-term price guarantee for the electricity produced by the plant “is necessary to create a strong solar market and facilitate the construction of a project this size, which in turn continues to drive the cost of solar electricity closer to ‘grid parity’ – where it is competitive with traditional energy sources.

No mention on putting a price on catbon but a strong message supporting all those of us that are saying that price (and sale) guarantees are essential to encourage investment in a way that minimizes price increases.

http://www.gizmag.com/worlds-largest-solar-power-plant-china/12806/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=d3371107f9-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

Give that we need to get emissions down to net zero and beyond we really need go as clean as possible everywhere in every aspect of production and consumption. We’ll need genuine sequestration activities like forestry, perhaps biochar, to offset all the emissions we can’t avoid while still providing reasonable opportunities for a satisfying and pleasant lifestyle.

In calibrating all this I doubt whether the market with a price on carbon is going to give us optimum or even sufficient outcomes. It’s likely to require rational intelligence and political cooperation on a scale perhaps never achieved before.

Well yes, if the algal biomass is combusted then all that is really happening is a further fuel cycle in the CO2 added by the original source, rather than sequestration. Whether this new cycle is of any net value depends on whether some other combustion of fossil fuels is foreclosed.

And yes, it doesn’t matter where the algal pond is set up unless gorwth rates are better near the power station are better as a result of the more concentrated CO2 supply.

There is some value in piping the CO2-rich effluent through the algae since (sunlight permitting) you do get (with some strains) increased yield, and you also remove quite a bit of NOx. It’s doubtful though if the economics compare well with open raceway ponds. I heard that one company in Milwaukee (IIRC — will stand corrected on this) — a beer company — was doing something with a company called Solix along these lines.

The pools in question are very large — raceway-style. Here is a recent reference.

Fairly obviously, some algaes can grow in brackish water — I understand there was some work being done in Hawaii along these lines though again, I’m not sure of the economics. These would obviously change if there were a serious cost on carbon emission in general and on the footprint of crude oil in particular.