California's Record-Breaking New Solar Plant Is Already Irrelevant

[Fir-na-tine]

2.2 billion would have built one hell of a reverse osmosis plant.

Agreed......several SWRO plants along the California coast would make this water shortage problem less severe or potentially solve it.....

World’s Largest Seawater Desalination Project, worth US$ 1.46 billion, in Saudi Arabia

The project is worth US$ 1.46 billion, making it the largest desalination project in size in the world. With a capacity of 228 MIGD*, the plant’s daily potable water output will be the largest in the world, sufficient to meet the needs of 3.5 million people per day. To date, the world’s largest desalination plant is the Shuaibah Phase 3 seawater desalination project, with an output of 194 MIGD, which Doosan won in Saudi Arabia for US$ 850 million in 2005.

*MIGD (Million Imperial Gallons per Day): One MIGD amounts to 4,546 tons per day, sufficient to meet the requirements of 15,000 people per day.

Now I don't know what the total population of the affected area(s) is/are but doing the math 228 x 15k = 3.42 million people......that's a lot of water.......and that is from one plant.......

Hadera Desalination Plant in Israel is another massive SWRO and have 2 more larger plants going online within weeks........

The only West Coast SWRO Plant is in Santa Barbara and was built in the 1990's and shut down a few years later......it was not made for high capacity distribution on a large scale but rather a county wide distribution facility.....

Food for thought.........we pay taxes and the government decides what they want to spend it on.......we really don't get a say.......lobbyist have the pull more than we do.........sad

~Woodrow~

 

[SDG]

They need to put a desal plant where the now defunkt san onofre (between SD and OC) nuke power plant is. Has the ocean realestate already.

I belive there are also plans to put a desal plant in carlsbad (north county SD) on or near the encina power plant property.

 

[jhires]

75% of the water used in CA is going to agriculture. The calculations for water need really should be based on per acre of farm land adjusted for type of crop and farming methods. If it is based on per person, if everyone in CA stopped using water at all it still would not cover the shortfall built up over a multi-year drought. This is a much larger worry than how often you flush toilets or shower since the number one agricultural producer in the US is California.

As for the solar plant, when we have the capability of converting sunlight directly to electricity, it is not to hard to see the inefficiency of a plant that converts the sunlight to heat, to steam, to kinetic energy, and then finally to electricity. I'm sure it spawned jobs during construction and helped a few companies sourcing the materials. But it is very short sighted to sink that kind of money into an already known dead-end technology. Photovoltaic (solar panel) technology is reaching the point where they can be printed with an inkjet printer.

Then again, this is all just government money and not real money, right? :thinking:

Dont mind me... I'm just rambling at this point with random stuff I've read. I've had nothing more than a passing interest in solar and in grapes over the years.

 

[SDG]

Good point. Big problem is the resivoirs up in central ca are bone dry. Especially the stuff feeding the salinas and monterey valley area.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using WAYALIFE mobile app

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Basically for around 4 billion, California could have made the worlds largest desalination plant PLUS, a super modern and clean nuclear power plant, capable of not only serving california (eliminating the third world country brown outs) but also selling juice to nearby states (lowering the cost to california taxpayers) but since we are talking about Commiefornia and hippiefornia, they need to extract energy out of avocados by building the worlds largest makeup room. Such a shame...california is probably one of the best places to live on the planet, but it is completely ruined by some of the world's dumbest politicians.

 

[Moochie]

Basically for around 4 billion, California could have made the worlds largest desalination plant PLUS, a super modern and clean nuclear power plant, capable of not only serving california (eliminating the third world country brown outs) but also selling juice to nearby states (lowering the cost to california taxpayers) but since we are talking about Commiefornia and hippiefornia, they need to extract energy out of avocados by building the worlds largest makeup room. Such a shame...california is probably one of the best places to live on the planet, but it is completely ruined by some of the world's dumbest politicians.

Where I live in CALIFORNIA a 1 Billion dollar desalinization plant is being built. It will supply 7% of the San Diego area water needs. We live in a desert with the majority of our water imported from the Colorado River. Thanks for all the kind words about our State!
http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Jan/07/carlsbad-desalination-plant-drought-poseidon/

 

[MTG]

So many people on here with such simple solutions to complex problems. We should start the wayalife platform next election season! I think it would be a landslide!!!

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

So many people on here with such simple solutions to complex problems. We should start the wayalife platform next election season! I think it would be a landslide!!!

Well, considering California is on the verge of complete bankruptcy, I'd venture to say the fact that it is poorly run isn't very far off.

http://calwatchdog.com/2013/11/25/c...-in-the-nation-sacramentos-stadium-obesssion/

http://www.wealthwire.com/news/economy/2045

If it seems like a handful of California cities are in a financial bind… the entire Golden State is actually teetering on the edge of bankruptcy... as are many other of the major cities in the United States.

California is essentially guilty (the politicians) of basically the same crap as what they are doing in Sochi...spending a fortune on everything without any results.

 

[Moochie]

Why single out California? The entire country is bankrupt.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Why single out California? The entire country is bankrupt.

Im not. Most states are poorly run, but California has the two extremes.....probably one of the nicest places on earth (weather/environment/variation of climate wise) and one of the worst places in the US politically speaking, which makes it a crying shame. If it wasn't for the "full retard" politicians of California, my wife and I would have relocated there a long time ago. Colorado was next on the list, but they are heading is the wrong direction IMHO as well, so time will tell where we end up. I truly hope California gets their sh!t together, and I would LOVE to live in Northern cali. Just to be objective, NY and NJ are both sh!tholes as well.

 

[bl17z90]

Don't get me wrong guys but, some of you make it sound like CA has never seen a drought before. Sure, CA has never seen a single dry year like this in recorded history but the, current water shortage is more a cause of back to back years of subnormal precipitation and one that started back in 2011. That's only 2-3 years. I don't know how old you are but CA suffered a much longer drought that lasted 5 years during 1987 to 1992 (hence the creation of the phrase - "if it's yellow let it mellow and if it's brown, flush it down") and if you look at history books, one that was even a bit longer from 1928 to 1934. To be fair, most of the storage that CA has today was built during that time and the need for water conservation is nothing new to the state. To bring this back on topic, you can only make power from a reservoir if you drain the water.

Of course, if you want to take this to the next level and look at things like tree ring data, none of this or what we've even seen in the 20th century compares to the mega droughts that CA had experienced in the past like one that lasted 50 years spanning 850 to 1090 AD and the one soon after that lasted 180 years spanning 1140 to 1320 AD. :shock:

You're like a walking history book.....or you are taking full advantage of the power of the google :yup:

 

[MTG]

Well, considering California is on the verge of complete bankruptcy, I'd venture to say the fact that it is poorly run isn't very far off.

http://calwatchdog.com/2013/11/25/c...-in-the-nation-sacramentos-stadium-obesssion/

http://www.wealthwire.com/news/economy/2045



California is essentially guilty (the politicians) of basically the same crap as what they are doing in Sochi...spending a fortune on everything without any results.

I wasn't singling you out, but since you quoted me...

Oh I'm not defending the politicians of California trust me, but basically I don't think it's as simple as spending spending 4 billion dollars in utility infrastructure (particularly nuclear, assuming you could build just the nuke plant for that price, let alone both) the costs of which ultimately will get passed on to the citizens of the state. Oh and for the notion of offsetting the costs to neighboring states...which one? Nevada, whose electric rates are lower already, or Oregon who has even lower rates?

 

[OverlanderJK]

Yeah we need another nuke plant. That's a good idea. They can put it right next to the one that is sitting empty right now. :thumb: it can be two sets of tits on I-5.

 

[JK's JK]

Yeah we need another nuke plant. That's a good idea. They can put it right next to the one that is sitting empty right now. :thumb: it can be two sets of tits on I-5.

Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant produces 4,000 Mega watts and Helms Power House produces 1,200 Mega Watts. Nuclear and pump storage is great ideas along with Dams.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

I wasn't singling you out, but since you quoted me...

Oh I'm not defending the politicians of California trust me, but basically I don't think it's as simple as spending spending 4 billion dollars in utility infrastructure (particularly nuclear, assuming you could build just the nuke plant for that price, let alone both) the costs of which ultimately will get passed on to the citizens of the state. Oh and for the notion of offsetting the costs to neighboring states...which one? Nevada, whose electric rates are lower already, or Oregon who has even lower rates?

I didn't mean to make it seem like I am quoting to instigate or anything, my point with the nuclear plant and the water plant would have probably been a wiser way to spend that sort of money, BUT, given the current economic climate of California, it may have been ever smarter to not spend that money at all. As for selling to other states, you may be right on that, but from what I understand, California actually "purchases" a bunch of their power from Arizona do they not? Not buying "foreign" power would also decrease the cost to the California populace. Obviously Im just spitballing, but my point was simply California loves to spend heaps of money on "revolutionary" projects that end up going nowhere, or becoming useless fast. A little fiscal responsibility would do the state some good. Personal question, do you think this mirror plant was a smart spending venture for the state?

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Yeah we need another nuke plant. That's a good idea. They can put it right next to the one that is sitting empty right now. :thumb: it can be two sets of tits on I-5.

Why is it empty? (serious question, not trolling)

 

[OverlanderJK]

I didn't mean to make it seem like I am quoting to instigate or anything, my point with the nuclear plant and the water plant would have probably been a wiser way to spend that sort of money, BUT, given the current economic climate of California, it may have been ever smarter to not spend that money at all. As for selling to other states, you may be right on that, but from what I understand, California actually "purchases" a bunch of their power from Arizona do they not? Not buying "foreign" power would also decrease the cost to the California populace. Obviously Im just spitballing, but my point was simply California loves to spend heaps of money on "revolutionary" projects that end up going nowhere, or becoming useless fast. A little fiscal responsibility would do the state some good. Personal question, do you think this mirror plant was a smart spending venture for the state?

In what way does California's spending have anything to do with you? And feel free to run for governor if it's that easy.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

In what way does California's spending have anything to do with you? And feel free to run for governor if it's that easy.

You really need to stop eating pissed on corn flakes. Can we not talk about things anymore? I thought this place was called the pub for a reason? You really need to calm down.

 

[JK's JK]

Not to spring another topic but its along the same lines with the rail system there wanting to put from LA to San Fransisco. You should hear some of the things there saying, what its going to cost along with what there going to do in order for it to happen.

 

[Moochie]

Why is it empty? (serious question, not trolling)

They spent millions on new steam tubes built by Mitsubishi in Japan. After installation the tubes cracked (bad engineering) and leaked radioactive water. Due to costs and red tape it was more economical to shut it down.