What Are the Different Renewable Energy Sources?

BrightSource Energy plans to build a 2,600 megawatt solar power plant in the future, and Keely Wachs, senior director of the company, said ambitiously, "This plan will exceed all previous plans."

Top ten renewable energy projects in the world

Today, renewable energy accounts for 12% of total US electricity generation. However, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) under the US Department of Energy believes that wind energy, waves, and solar energy can produce 93% of the nation's electricity, and the potential for renewable energy is immense.

If renewable energy can play a more important role, or play a more important role in combating global warming, there is no doubt that it will rise rapidly. Studies by Princeton scientists Stephen Pacala and Roberts Socolow suggest that to maintain current levels of carbon emissions, at least 2 million megawatts of renewable energy must be built between now and 2055. Renewable energy power plants to effectively replace current thermal power plants.

The following is an introduction to the world's top ten renewable energy projects:

World's largest onshore wind power plant

Horse Hollow Wind Power Plant in Taylor and Nolan County, Texas, USA

100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Dallas, 47,000 acres (19,000 hectares) of cedar and short oak give way to the 421 wind turbines at the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, with peak power generation of up to 735 MW. There are two types of wind turbines. One is produced by GE with a power generation capacity of 2911.5 MW; the other is produced by Siemens with a power generation capacity of 1302.3 MW. The power plant was completed in 2006 and is managed by NextEra Energy, a subsidiary of Florida Power & Light, which generates 4 billion watts of electricity across the United States. The dominance of the Horse Hollow wind power plant will not last long, because by 2009, the fourth phase of the Rosecoe wind power plant, owned by E.ON Climate and Renewable Energy, was completed. It has 627 wind turbines and a power generation capacity of 781.5 MW. .

Other large wind power plants under construction include: Shepherd's Flat wind power plant in Oregon, USA, with 303 wind turbines and 800 MW of power generation; Markbygden wind power plant in Sweden, with 1,101 wind turbines, which has a power generation capacity that is even worse 4 billion watts of people.

The world's largest offshore wind power plant

Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm, Lincolnshire, UK

From the UK's Skegness coast, you can see the Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind power plant, with a total installed capacity of 543.6 MW and a peak power generation of up to 194 MW. Each turbine is 353 feet long (approximately 107 meters) in diameter, using Hubs to each other

Connected-The Hub is buried 265 feet (about 80 meters) deep below sea level. The turbine is fixed on a tall iron tower. The total cost of the project is nearly $ 500 million.

By the end of 2009, the Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind power plant will be surpassed by the 209 MW Horns Review wind power plant. Costs $ 670 million. Another wind power plant with an installed capacity of 1000 MW built by London Array outside the Thames estuary will be completed in 2012.

The world's largest river tidal power station

Rance Tidal Power Station in Brittany, France

There are many huge renewable energy projects in the world that have been standing for a long time.

The French Rance tidal energy dam, with an investment of about $ 134 million, is the earliest and still the largest river tidal energy power station in the world. The dam of the power station is located at the estuary of the Rance River. The maximum range between high and low tides is 26 feet high (about 8 meters). The tidal stream repeatedly passes through the dam, and electricity is continuously produced, with a total installed capacity of 2410 MW.

Soon, Britain will also build a tidal power plant at the Severn Estuary between England and Wales. Numerous other power plants will also emerge. The largest tidal power dam will have an installed capacity of 7.4 miles (12 kilometers) and reach 8.6 gigawattsthat is, 5% of the current total electricity in the United States.

The world's largest offshore tidal power station

SeaGen Power Station in Strangford Bay, Ireland

Similar to wind power, wind drives the turbine to generate electricity. Tidal energy also uses the kinetic energy of fluids, but the fluid it uses is tidal currents or ocean currents. The SeaGen power station with an installed capacity of 1.2 megawatts actually consists of a pair of turbines, each of which is 66 feet long (20 meters) in diameter, can be rotated 180 degrees, and can be lifted to the surface during maintenance. The vignette is a turbine under normal working conditions.

By 2015, this record will be broken by a project built in South Korea's Wando Hoenggan Waterways. The project will cost USD 820 million, has an installed capacity of 300 megawatts, and a 60-foot-high (18-meter) turbine will be fixed to the sea floor by its own gravity.

The world's largest solar thermal power plant

SEGS Power Plant in Southern California

Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) in Southern California, USA since 19

Since its completion in 1990, it has occupied the top spot of solar thermal power plants. SEGS consists of nine independent power plants distributed in the Mojave Desert, with a total installed capacity of 354 MW. The design, construction and operation of the power plant were completed by Luz multinational company. Unfortunately, Luz company finally went bankrupt due to tax problems. Luz's chairman resigned and joined Brightsource, which is also a solar company. The company signed a big project: to build 14 solar power plants from now to 2017 with a total installed capacity of 2600 MW. The newly built solar thermal power plant will be very different from SEGS: SEGS will receive solar energy in long slots, while the new power plant will use tens of thousands of mirrors to collect solar energy and focus its reflection on a cheaper and more efficient central heat collection tower on.

The world's largest solar photovoltaic power plant

Spain Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park Power Plant

Olmedilla Photovoltaic Power Plant (Photovoltaic, PV) consists of 16, 2000 solar photovoltaic panels

It can produce 60 megawatts of electricity in the next day. The project took 15 months to complete and the total investment was US $ 530 million. Olmedilla Photovoltaic Power Plant uses traditional silicon panels, which are expensive and cumbersome. So-called "thin-film" solar panels will be cheaper, although their capacity per unit area will be lower. The Rancho Cielo Solar Farm photovoltaic power plant in southern Mexico will soon be completed. The project is expected to cost $ 840 million, covers an area of 285 hectares, and generates 600 megawatts of electricity, all using "thin-film" panels.

The world's largest geothermal field

Grand Geyser in Sonoma and Lake County, California

Although the output from the highest 2000 MW in the 1980s has fallen to the current 1,000 MW, the Grand Geyser is still the world's largest geothermal field, and it generates more than 60% of California's total electricity on the North Coast. The first geothermal power plant in the United States was built on the Great Geyser in 1960. At that time, the power generation was 11 megawatts. The average power generation of a single power plant in the region is now 50 megawatts. But Indonesia will soon build the largest geothermal power plant with a capacity of 330 MW.

The world's largest bioenergy plant

Oy Alholmens Kraft Bioenergy Power Plant, Finland

Oy Alholmens Kraft bioelectric power plant located in Finland. The main sources of combustion are bark and branches.

With peat, the plant is equipped with the world's largest boiler-generating 550 MW of thermal energy, a maximum output of 240 MW, and 160 MW of steam (available to nearby factories and residents). The factory manager introduced: We need 120 cars full of biofuel a day, and each car fuel is only enough to burn for 6-7 minutes.

By 2010, Wales announced that it would build a 350 MW bio-power plant. The problem was that it had to import wood and other fuels from Canada, which caused people to doubt its renewableity.

The world's largest wave power plant

Portuguese Wave Power Plant

The world's first and only commercial wave power plant is 500 feet (about 150 meters) long and 11 feet (about 3.5 meters) wide. It winds like a snake, partly floating on the sea and partly invading the sea. The project costs US $ 13 million and currently generates 2.25 megawatts. Spain plans to expand to bring the total power generation to 21 megawatts.

The largest hydropower station in the world

China Three Gorges Hydropower Station

On December 18, 2007, China s Three Gorges Hydropower Station s power generation capacity reached 14.1 billion watts, surpassing the 14 billion watt Itaipu hydropower station on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The Three Gorges Hydropower Station is located on the Yangtze River in southern China, about 40 kilometers from Yichang City, Hubei Province. By 2011, the Three Gorges Dam will generate 18 billion watts of electricity, which is equivalent to 18 large nuclear power plants.

The generating capacity of the unit is 700 MW. The total project construction cost 26 billion U.S. dollars.

The Grand Inga Dam (Great Inga Project), which is expected to be completed between 2020 and 2025, is located on the Livingston Falls of the Congo River in the Republic of the Congo, with a total installed power generation capacity of 39 million KW.

Another: It is estimated that in 2050, China will also be able to build a dewatering power station on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Motuo County, Tibet. Can be described as two cattle ears of the world-class giant hydropower station.

This article is translated from Scientific American