2005

The Benefits

Now the question comes, what are the benefits of generating energy through a off-shore Solar-Rig (see end of page if you don't what it is); well, here are some

i) optimum utilization of space as it’ll not lead to deforestation on land,

ii) oil rig platform technology is very much developed and it’ll help in setting up Solar Rigs easily

iii) old & dried up oil rigs can be used as platform for Solar Rigs and,

iv) such high temperature & power system can be used for hydrogen generation which is fuel of the future.

Any comments?

I've thought of a design for the Energy Collector of my project, 'off-shore solar' (As I'll call it now). Now first, what's an energy collector? Energy Collector is a device which is placed at the focal point of the Concentrator. Sun light can be as intense as around 3000 Suns at this point and temperatures in excess of 5000K

Image courtesy: Sandia National Laboratories & National Renewable Energy Laboratory (SunLab)

Now, think how wonderful it will be if we can take out useful energy from a solar cell without frying it in this intense heat. So, my design of the collector is basically based on this idea. We know that a silicon solar cell can convert only high frequency light into electricity i.e. blue to violet part of the spectrum. Rest of the energy essentially goes waste as heat in solar cells.

But, this is going to change Now!

If we can separate the intense beam of Sunlight into a spectrum like this, then we can safely place a solar cell in the Green to Blue portion of the spectrum and heat collectors can be placed in the Yellow to Red portion.
The results we can obtain using this technique seem to be amazing as the solar cell will work at maximum efficiency with minimal heating and we're also utilizing the heat of the sunlight.

Now the question is how we're going to split the sunlight into parts?

Maybe we can pass the intense beam through a prism or will diffraction work? (I'm not sure about this) or we can maybe... ah... err.... Ya, maybe we can use the way nature makes it (in a rainbow). If you're a researcher or professor or student or anybody knowing about this reading then can you please suggest me somethin..? Thanks very much!!

Suggestions & Comments are invited, thank you for reading.

Counterpoints; Explained

There are some counterpoints regarding my idea (see previous post) of offshore solar power plants. I'll explain them below;
Point 1: It would deprive sunlight to the part of ocean below and will affect marine ecology.

Explanation:
Yes, surely it would block sunrays from entering the ocean below and thereby less oxygen will be generated by undersea plants & phytoplanktons and it would affect marine life, but we can avoid that problem by using this process;

In this process raw material is water (H2O), final product is Hydrogen and by product is Oxygen, means oxygen is generated as a waste in this process much like in trees. We can simply dissolve this oxygen in the sea-water below and avoid the ecological problem.

Now, this reaction works only at high tempreatures which is easily obtainable in solar concentrators, which is exactly what I plan to use.
The hydrogen generated can be used directly in fuel cells or we can use it to generate electricity on-board and then transmit that electricity through undersea cables.

Comments are invited

A fuel cell car.

The Big Idea

So, How can you convert this beautiful oil-rig into something which is far more beautiful and eco-friendly...?
I will tell you! Just place a large parabolic solar concentrator on the top and derive useful and non-polluting energy from it and what's more, you can even track the sun easily, just lift up'n'down its large four feet to adjust. Imagine!!!
This idea is Copyright © Mridul,

Hi

Today I got another issue of Renewable Energy World Magazine, a bi-monthly dose of fresh new developments in the renewable energy world. And the Amazing thing about it is that it’s Free. Cover story in this issue is ‘How the PV industry manages environmental issues’ and a special report on Global Status of Renewables. My favourite article on Concentrating Photovoltaic