While low emissions coal is often touted as a solution to this issue of greenhouse gases emitted by coal-fired power plants, it doesn’t reduce the amount of coal used – in fact the energy required to mop up the emissions requires more coal be burned – and therefore mined.
Solar energy and the coal fired power generation industry might seem at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to clean power, but the potential of solar power melding in with coal related activities is becoming a real possibility to help lessen the impact that the fossil fuel plants have in generating electricity.
New Mexico’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has reached an agreement with the Electric Power Research Institute to use its Escalante Station in a project to incorporate solar energy. In a coal fired plant, the fuel is burned to produce steam that turns a generator’s turbines. At Escalante, solar infusion would be used to augment that cycle in order to create the same amount of steam, but using less coal.
Late in January, solar company Ausra announced a change in business plan by focusing on being a technology and equipment supplier rather than an independent power developer and owner. Ausra’s change of direction includes their expansion to include building medium-sized (50 MW equivalent) solar steam generating systems that can be used by utilities for power augmentation (booster) systems to deliver steam into existing fossil-fueled power plants, increasing their power output and reducing carbon emissions.
While some may see the incorporation of solar into coal plants as an unholy alliance, the fact that such systems can be added to existing plants has given many proponents of renewable energy hope that the concept may be a major step in finally moving towards coal-free power generation.
