"It really is not necessary for Hungary use nuclear power because there is a simple mature technology available that can deliver huge amounts of clean energy without any of the headaches of nuclear power, Dr Gerry Wolff, co-ordinator of TREC-UK wrote to portfolio.hu regarding an earlier report on Monday titled "Hungary may need a second nuclear power plant".The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) is a group of scientists, engineers and politicians developing a collaboration amongst countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EUMENA) to take advantage of the truly enormous quantities of solar energy falling as sunlight on the world's hot deserts—and wind energy in those regions too.
TREC-UK is a group of volunteers who are interested in the concepts developed by TREC and aim to raise awareness of those concepts in the UK and beyond.
Dr Wolff referred to 'concentrating solar power' (CSP), the technique of concentrating sunlight using mirrors to create heat, and then using the heat to raise steam and drive turbines and generators, just like a conventional power station.
“It is possible to store solar heat in melted salts so that electricity generation may continue through the night or on cloudy days. This technology has been generating electricity successfully in California since 1985 and half a million Californians currently get their electricity from this source. CSP plants are now being planned or built in many parts of the world," Dr Wolff said.
“CSP works best in hot deserts and, of course, there are not many of these in Europe! But it is feasible and economic to transmit solar electricity over very long distances using highly-efficient 'HVDC' transmission lines. With transmission losses at about 3% per 1000 km, solar electricity may, for example, be transmitted from North Africa to Poland or Lithuania with only about 10% loss of power. A large-scale HVDC transmission grid has also been proposed by the wind energy company Airtricity as a means of optimising the use of wind power throughout Europe."
“In the recent 'TRANS-CSP' report commissioned by the German government, it is estimated that CSP electricity, imported from North Africa and the Middle East, could become one of the cheapest sources of electricity in Europe, including the cost of transmission. That report shows in great detail how Europe can meet all its needs for electricity, make deep cuts in CO2 emissions, and phase out nuclear power at the same time."
Source:
Portfolio Online Financial Journal
16.01.2007