One Of World's Largest Solar Plants To Be Built In Lopburi Receives Loan From ADB

[webfact]

ADB will lend funds to build Lopburi solar power plant

BANGKOK: -- The Asian Development Bank has agreed to grant US$70 million (around Bt2 billion) for construction of the Lopburi solar power plant, one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) projects.

It is the first project for which ADB has given support under its plan to promote alternative energy consumption around the world in a bid to help reduce global warming.

Lakshmi Venkatachalam, ADB vice president, Private Sector and Co-financing Operations, said Thailand has great potential for alternative energy production. Its government had a clear policy to promote alternative energy.

She said ADB is considering giving financial support to alternative energy projects worldwide in a bid to help reduce global warming and encourage sustainable development.

The Lopburi solar project involves the construction of the world’s largest solar power plant in Thailand's central province of Lopburi.

The ADB will extend a long-term loan of $70 million or around Bt2 billion and $2 million in grant assistance to building the first phase of the solar power plant with a production capacity of 73 megawatts.

In addition, it purchased 6,000 tons a year of carbon credits.

For loans of more than Bt3 billion, she said Kasikornbank, Bangkok Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank would together lend funding for portions of the first phase of the construction in August.

The second phase of the project has a production capacity of 84 million watts and requires a total investment of Bt9.2 billion. The plant will be commercial launch in 2011.

The project is owned by Thailand's National Energy Development Co, whose shares are held equally by CLP Thailand Renewable Limited, Diamond Generating Asia Limited, and Power Plant Energy. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2010-07-29

[RKASA]

[Piengrudee]

Lopburi is a monkey town. It has monkey in the town center at the Angkor Wat look alike temple.

[Moruya]

Lopburi is a monkey town. It has monkey in the town center at the Angkor Wat look alike temple.

Do they come to pray?

[tingtongfarang]

Lopburi is a monkey town. It has monkey in the town center at the Angkor Wat look alike temple.

Maybe the ADB consider if the monkeys do the installation-maintenance as opposed to the thai technicians the outcome might be the same ...but cheaper,

[Piengrudee]

http://www.google.co.th/images?hl=th&source=imghp&q=lopburi

[julemanden]

Lopburi is a monkey town. It has monkey in the town center at the Angkor Wat look alike temple.

Not for long if this comes to life

[Payboy]

Lopburi is a monkey town. It has monkey in the town center at the Angkor Wat look alike temple.

Do they come to pray?

Nah, they're just there for the food, drinks and easy sex.

[meithai]

They had better make sure that it is kept secure from the monkies there, they will rip it to pieces in no time.

[robint]

which monkeys will steal the panels?

[RKASA]

Better to be monkeying with this then a nuke plant. Why not one in every prov. Thailand HUB of Solar power.

[asiawatcher]

Global Warming - yeah - do your research - what a croc - but - yes solar energy I agree with. Lop Buri?

[RickBradford]

If any monkeys steal and rip apart solar panels, they'll be dead in short order -- solar panels include large quantities of phosphine, and especially arsenic trihydride (about 2 tons per megawatt), which is so toxic that it was proposed as a chemical weapon before the Second World War.

Solar panels are a toxic time-bomb, since manufacturing them involves a witch's brew of nasty chemicals, the consequences of which may be dire once they end up in landfills

[tombkk]

Lopburi is a monkey town. It has monkey in the town center at the Angkor Wat look alike temple.

Lopburi Town is famous for its monkeys. However, Lopburi provionce is huge.

I doubt that the plant will be in the town, and I applaud the ADB and the Thai government for this project.

[tombkk]

If any monkeys steal and rip apart solar panels, they'll be dead in short order -- solar panels include large quantities of phosphine, and especially arsenic trihydride (about 2 tons per megawatt), which is so toxic that it was proposed as a chemical weapon before the Second World War.

Solar panels are a toxic time-bomb, since manufacturing them involves a witch's brew of nasty chemicals, the consequences of which may be dire once they end up in landfills

OK, please suggest a better way of producing electricity.

Oil: See the spills in Nigeria or Gulf of Mexico.

Nuclear: See the many accidents all over the place, even in developed countries. No final solution for the waste.

Water: See the protests against environmental impact of dams.

Coal: Dangerous mining, and lots of air polution.

Wind: Not only not efficient, but ugly to the core. (Actually, with continuing research, wind may become a serious alternative in the future)

What did I forget? Or are you not using electricity?

[ScubaBuddha]

If any monkeys steal and rip apart solar panels, they'll be dead in short order -- solar panels include large quantities of phosphine, and especially arsenic trihydride (about 2 tons per megawatt), which is so toxic that it was proposed as a chemical weapon before the Second World War.

Solar panels are a toxic time-bomb, since manufacturing them involves a witch's brew of nasty chemicals, the consequences of which may be dire once they end up in landfills

OK, please suggest a better way of producing electricity.

Oil: See the spills in Nigeria or Gulf of Mexico.

Nuclear: See the many accidents all over the place, even in developed countries. No final solution for the waste.

Water: See the protests against environmental impact of dams.

Coal: Dangerous mining, and lots of air polution.

Wind: Not only not efficient, but ugly to the core. (Actually, with continuing research, wind may become a serious alternative in the future)

What did I forget? Or are you not using electricity?

Can you please name the "many accidents all over the place" as a result of nuclear power? The only problem with nuclear is the publics irrational fear of it.

So there is Chernobyl, an RBMK reactor design unique to the former Soviet Union, was a shit design. Numerous factors and practices created a perfect storm resulting in that accident. None of these factors and practices are present in modern western reactors, (such as no containment shell, use of carbon moderators instead of water, and deactivating automatic safety devices allowing the operators to "experiment" as they were when the accident occurred.)

The 3 Mile Island was a public relations nightmare, very unfortunately occurring 13 days ofter the release of the movie "The China Syndrome" about a nuclear power plant accident, cementing the current anti-nuclear movement. It is the most significant nuclear power accident in US history, even though no one was killed or injured. Automatic safety systems in place worked. Human error was to blame. A lot was learned and nuclear power plants are safer because of it. No meaningful radiation was released.

Even the founder of Greenpeace is promoting nuclear power as a green energy source. I used to work at a nuclear faculty, have stood next to enriched uranium, and my father inspected these facilities most of his career. Modern design reactors are extremely safe. I have no concern of one being built here in Thailand. The new pebble bed design is so safe even the Thai's can handle it. China and South Africa are building several now, and by 2020 China plans to have 30 in operation. By the middle of the century, near 100. It will probably the largest planned nuclear power deployment in Earth's history. And much needed.

Coal, our #1 energy source (more than all the others put together), kills between 30-50 miners a year in the US. In China the average yearly death rate has improved, down to 2,631 in 2009 from a staggering 6,991 in 2002. It's estimated 30,000 people die each year in the US due to pollution cause by coal burning.

50 employees and rescuers died directly due to the Chernobyl accident. Subsequent studies have shown previous estimates of sickness and death due to radioactive fallout were not nearly as bad as originally thought, with cancer levels being almost statistically insignificant, although it's difficult to determine. Apart from Chernobyl, no nuclear workers or members of the public have ever died as a result of exposure to radiation due to a nuclear reactor incident.

[mazeltov]

If any monkeys steal and rip apart solar panels, they'll be dead in short order -- solar panels include large quantities of phosphine, and especially arsenic trihydride (about 2 tons per megawatt), which is so toxic that it was proposed as a chemical weapon before the Second World War.

Solar panels are a toxic time-bomb, since manufacturing them involves a witch's brew of nasty chemicals, the consequences of which may be dire once they end up in landfills

OK, please suggest a better way of producing electricity.

Oil: See the spills in Nigeria or Gulf of Mexico.

Nuclear: See the many accidents all over the place, even in developed countries. No final solution for the waste.

Water: See the protests against environmental impact of dams.

Coal: Dangerous mining, and lots of air polution.

Wind: Not only not efficient, but ugly to the core. (Actually, with continuing research, wind may become a serious alternative in the future)

What did I forget? Or are you not using electricity?

Something what the sunshine power hippies like to forget when they praise the "clean " energy. That isn't true.

The 'panel industry' speaks all the time of recycling. but we know what happen with all the other electronic scrap.

There are limits for the PV industry. We need much more energy than solar panels can provide. solar energy is still in the experimental stage.

The world largest solar power station will have a capacity of 73 MW, clearly a prestige object. average solar plants have a much lower output, 10 MW-20MW is called large and that also only when the sun shines. that is not much.

That solar power plant needs space. for 70 MW expect an area of at least 300 ha, that are 600 football field, that have to kept monkey free and free from plants. nature have to step back on a large scale for that environmental friendly energy of 70 MW (when sky is clear and sun shines)

Your modern and average nuclear power station has a capacity of 1000MW = 1 GW. around the clock 24/7 also when it rains.

The worldwide production of photovoltaic cells and modules in 2009 had a capacity of around 12 GW.

PV is still expensive. one of the newer and cheaper ways with a growing market share is Cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV technology.

here comes the next limit. tellurium is a extremely rare element. rarer than gold. it doesn't make the solar panels significant expensive, but the problem is that the yearly production of tellurium is just a few hundred ton, more cannot be found and digged out.

10 tons tellurium for 100 MW PV. So the natural limit of tellurium resources will also limit the yearly production of these CdTe PV cell to a few GW per year.

There is a lot of sun coming down to earth, providing lot of energy, but we don't have enough solar cell to collect that what we need. not today and not tomorrow. it will take few decades more before solar plant gave a significant market share and can replace other technologies.

And not forget, it isn't that clean energy, you won't be that happy and not that uncritical when they build a PV manufacturing plant behind your house.

[brahmburgers]

Solar energy can be compared to democracy: It's not a perfect system, but it's better than the other options.

There are various methods of getting power from solar. All are being developed - and their efficiencies are going up and overall costs are going down. PV is but one way to slice the apple. If the Lopburi pu yai had asked me, I would have suggested concentrated solar using mirrors to heat salt - thereby generating the heat for the job.

More important than any sort of power generation is CONSERVATION of energy use. Suggestion to Thai legislators: create a Ministry of Conservation or something to that effect.

As for Mazeltov's repeated name-calling goading using the word 'hippie.' What's the purpose of calling strangers names?. Is it to try an bolster his flaccid arguments of T.Visa threads? The word hippie came about in the early 1960's and for many people, it doesn't have negative connotations, though Mazeltov uses it as if it did. If he wants to get derogatory mileage out of name calling, try the word 'freaks.' That's what us hippies called ourselves - and (believe it or not) it wound up taking a positive spin back then, as in "yeah, let's go to that party across town, I heard there are going to be a lot freaks there. The music should be a gas."

Edited July 30, 2010 by brahmburgers

[RickBradford]

@TomBKK:

What did I forget?

For a start:

* Natural gas

* Wave energy

* Tidal power

* Geothermal

* Fusion

* Wood/other biomass

* Shale oil

* Gas hydrates

* Ocean thermal energy conversion

The point is that all energy sources have their good and bad points, and that we should not get caught up in naive, Utopian fantasies that one form of energy is going to solve all our environmental and power needs.

There is no such thing as 'clean' or 'renewable' energy; all we can say is that different forms of energy generation cause different types and amounts of pollution and resource degradation.

When we have accepted that basic point, we are closer to devising sensible and sustainable energy policies.

[Radicalguy]

Go Solar!

[brahmburgers]

There is no such thing as 'clean' or 'renewable' energy; all we can say is that different forms of energy generation cause different types and amounts of pollution and resource degradation.

Would you agree there are some types of energy generation that are 'cleaner' and/or more 'renewable' than others?

I agree, we don't have to debate in terms of 'absolutes' ...as if one proposed solution is the absolute best.

I like your mentions of thermal and 'wood/other biomass' Throughout Thailand there are hot springs which reveal possibilities for thermal - at least for pre-heating water - to be heated further by some other means, to produce electricity.

As for things that can be burned: Hemp grows fast on poor soils. The seeds are particularly useful for all sorts of things (useful oil), plus they're edible & nutritional. The fibers and hurds are also useful (just one of thousands of examples: Volvo uses hemp hurds as stuffing for their luxury car seats). Just one of thousands of examples of uses for fibers: top quality, durable jeans and shoulder bags.

When the seeds and other parts are used for useful (and commercially viable) items, the left over dried stalks could be hauled off locally to burn for generating fuel.

If anyone reading this thinks hemp is marijuana or ganga, then they really need to educate themselves. Google it. Hemp has barely discernible amounts of THC. You'd have to smoke a whole pick-up truck full of hemp to get a tiny smidgen of THC, but by that time you'd be in the hospital with a splitting headache.

[tingtongfarang]

Not sure if china has hemp plantations but in certain parts of china i,ve seen it growing wild even at the side of the road, Also seen a hotel with a massive cannabis plant of around 5-6 meters in the hotel garden,

Of course there cannabis is part of the local culture and the authorities just dont have any interest as the streets are full of minority hill tribe people selling it.

I never realized it could be used as biomass for producing electricity...interesting.

[brahmburgers]

Not sure if china has hemp plantations but in certain parts of china i,ve seen it growing wild even at the side of the road, Also seen a hotel with a massive cannabis plant of around 5-6 meters in the hotel garden,

Of course there cannabis is part of the local culture and the authorities just dont have any interest as the streets are full of minority hill tribe people selling it.

I never realized it could be used as biomass for producing electricity...interesting.

let's call it hemp (rather than cannabis) for the sake of differentiating it from it's psychosomatic cousin; marijuana. And yes, I've grown hundreds of hemp plants, illegally in California 30 years ago, and I know first hand how it grows. It's an annual, from seed, which can grow 10 cm/day to t he size of a large Xmas tree. It's a dry plant and has little problems on marginal dry clay soils. I don't know the scientific numbers, but I bet it packs a powerful punch as a harvestable biomass crop. HM the Queen is open minded about hemp, and has ok'd experimental crops for Thailand. In contrast, US's policy is that it's a drug, which it isn't. Mint or tomatoes are more like drugs than hemp. It's a ridiculous policy by US (I'm American btw), but unfortunately it has influence around the world, particular for Thailand, which follows the US note for note on all laws concerning banned substances, regardless of how stupid or antiquated those laws are.

Canadians, Chinese, Aussies, Europeans and others allow hemp to be farmed, because they know it's a harmless and incredibly useful plant. Thailand should wake from its slumber and join in on the commercial and nutritional possibilities of hemp. I'd be interested to see how many KW a rai (or acre) of hemp could generate as biomass. Anyone want to research that?

[brahmburgers]

I did a bit of research and found that hemp can produce up to 3.9 'bone dry' tons per acre. That's in Canada. For Thailand, that would yield approx. 1.5 tons per rai.

However, other parts of hemp are more valuable than biomass, such as its seed, oil, and bio-diesel fuel, ethanol from its cellulose. This brings us back to my original proposal, mentioned a few posts earlier: Harvest the seed, then dry the rest of the plant and haul it off to a plant to heat water and generate electricity. ...talk about a renewable energy source! It needs less water than cotton, and grows as big as a medium sized tree in one season.

In case we forgot, last year was a record drought year. Droughts = lower water for hydro electric, but they have even more dire effects, especially for Asia, where nearly every farmer grows water-guzzling rice. Let's start a new paradigm: grow drought resistant hemp. Harvest its seeds (nutritious for people and other animals), and use the dried residue as mentioned above.

Naw, forget it. Let's just stick with what we know: grow rice, fight over water allocation, hassle with China over the 40 cm deep trickle of water once known as the Mekhong River, propose tens of billions of baht for water pumping plans that make politicians rich (but don't work because of sediment build-up and the annoying factor that water doesn't flow uphill). Business as usual. Why should a Thai strain his brain to think outside the box? It's much easier to go with the old methods. Droughts/floods droughts/floods drought/floods back and forth every year. Oh, and let's add nuclear and 60,000 years of radioactive garbage to the mix, that should make life interesting.

[RickBradford]

brahmburgers,

What use is to be made of Thailand's experimental hemp crops, do you know?

[BSJ]

I am a fan of concentrated solar. Using heliostats to collect the rays and concentrate the heat on a boiling vat of salt is a good system. And if done right it can produce base load electricity. The Spanish have been working with it for years.

[RickBradford]

^^^

And are now paying the price for their folly

Only two years ago, Spanish solar energy companies feasting on generous government subsidies expanded at a feverish pace, investing €18 billion (then worth roughly $28 billion) to blanket rooftops and fields with photovoltaic panels. They briefly turned the country into the top solar market in the world.

Then came a monumental case of sunburn. The market crashed under a wave of subsidy cuts, fears of possible forced tariff paybacks and allegations of fraud involving energy produced at night being sold as solar power to collect super-premium prices.

Spain’s subsidies for solar were four to six times higher than those for wind. Prices charged for solar power were 12 times higher than those for fossil fuel electricity.

[brahmburgers]

brahmburgers,

What use is to be made of Thailand's experimental hemp crops, do you know?

Although there's already a wealth of data from other countries re; hemp (growing it, its uses, etc) it appears some Thais in high places decided Thailand needed to do its own research. - best soils, best micro-climates, need for pesticides/herbicides, companion crops/rotation, etc. One research paper I saw, from Canada, mentioned it doesn't need pesticides/herbicides, which is a big step up from rice. Incidentally, pretty much ALL rice in Thailand has heavy chemical treatments during cultivation. I see the guys applying it - heavy handedly. Think about that, next time you eat Thai rice. Thais eat rice with every meal.

Am not sure if I understand the question about hemp, or if it's a real question. As for the uses of hemp itself, ...it has a vast amount of uses, practical nutritional, biomass, etc. ....and I'd bet RickBradford knows that.

In today's Nation, there's a Letter to the Editor from me, mentioning hemp and nuclear.

[brahmburgers]

^^^

And are now paying the price for their folly

Only two years ago, Spanish solar energy companies feasting on generous government subsidies expanded at a feverish pace, investing €18 billion (then worth roughly $28 billion) to blanket rooftops and fields with photovoltaic panels. They briefly turned the country into the top solar market in the world.

Then came a monumental case of sunburn. The market crashed under a wave of subsidy cuts, fears of possible forced tariff paybacks and allegations of fraud involving energy produced at night being sold as solar power to collect super-premium prices.

Spain’s subsidies for solar were four to six times higher than those for wind. Prices charged for solar power were 12 times higher than those for fossil fuel electricity.

It might not be 'folly.' There are decades left for the scenario to play out. Those solar panels will last for decades, meanwhile the price of fossil fuels will rise. Oil could exceed the price of almond oil per liter b4 2 long. Also, much of Spain's alt.energy investment was not on PV panels, but on one or more large scale solar heat plants (using mirrors, salt) which is a smart investment - particularly for the long run, and is what Thailand should be investing in. Thailand won't see the folly of its quixotic nuclear lust until years after the plants are built, and the manifold problems of nuclear become achingly evident.

[RickBradford]

....the price of fossil fuels will rise. Oil could exceed the price of almond oil per liter b4 2 long.

That's an interesting one. On the face of it, oil prices should be set to rise rapidly -- huge increases in demand from the developing world (particularly China and India) and the shadow of 'peak oil'. And yet, the price stubbornly refuses to rise dramatically and the date set for peak oil continues to be pushed back, due to new discoveries and new techniques. The price is very volatile, though Cambridge Econometrics estimates a 2% annual rise to 2020.

It's easy to find analyses like Debunking the Myth of Peak Oil - Why the Age of Cheap Oil is Far From Over

Over the past 33 years mankind has consumed more than three times the world's known oil reserves in 1976 – and today proven oil reserves are nearly double what they were before we started. The story with natural gas is even better – here and around the world enormous amounts of natural gas have been found. More will be found. But if you had asked in 1976 what the supply of oil would be like given the demand of 2010, you would have come up with the "Peak Oil" theory then, and we would have supposedly run out of oil decades ago; an ongoing impending crisis.

I guess it comes down to a question of political viewpoint -- whether you think it is a good idea to throw tens of billions of dollars in subsidies at technologies like solar and wind, whose usefulness may never match their undoubted feel-good factor. A conservative would say No, a progressive would say Yes.

Edit: Nice letter to The Nation, btw.

Edited August 2, 2010 by RickBradford