Clean Energy Tech: Promises Outweigh Problems

By Author: Ravi
Total Articles: 2
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Looking at the increasing activity levels in clean environment space, questions are often asked: Are clean energy
Technologies the appropriate choice for meeting our energy needs in future? Can they solve the problems of
energy access and energy security?
As we look at them today, clean environment technologies suffer from many disadvantages. The most important issues
pertain to high costs and high variability. Since power can’t be stored, clean energy options such as hydro, wind
and solar face problems of mismatch between generation, which is dependent on climatic variables, and actual
demand patterns for power.
Clean environment technologies, however, offer very attractive features despite above problems. Clean energy
resources don’t need replenishment and are much bigger sources, by many orders of magnitude, than fast
depleting fossil fuel reserves. We have to make a shift from fossil fuels as they are simply insufficient for meeting
our future energy needs
The real issues with clean energy technologies at present are low conversion efficiency and high ...
... conversion
costs. However, the costs of most clean energy technologies are falling rapidly driven by improving conversion
efficiencies, low cost manufacturing and larger volumes.
Wind energy: Wind generation costs are falling, as we move to larger (2-5 MW) machines with hub heights of 125
M, and low cost manufacturing in India and China. The investment cost/KWhr generated has declined, for
southern states in India, from ~$0.55/KWhr to $0.40/KWhr, making it viable for IPP generation.
Solar energy: Solar Photo-voltaic (PV) conversion efficiencies are improving. With Concentrated Solar
Photovoltaic (CSPV) efficiencies go as high as 23%. At the same time, the cost of manufacturing and system
integration is falling. For example, in Western India, for polycrystalline PV, unit investment intensity has dropped
from $2.5/KWhr to $1.65/KWhr and for a-Si thin films to $1.5/KWhr. In next four to five years the costs are
expected to touch < $1.0/KWhr, at which point the solar generation will be close to grid costs. In solar thermal
area efficient cycles such as stirling engine or high temperature systems (inlet 1,000 °C+) have improved
conversion efficiency to 25%+. With low-cost manufacturing in India and China, the investment costs may
decline, in five-eight years, from $4/W today to