Solar Energy Generating Systems;
Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is the largest solar energy generating facility in the world; it is a combination of nine solar power plants in California’s Mojave Desert generating 354 megawatts of electricity. The Mojave Desert is the ideal location for such plants due to the high volume of sunlight this region receives, twice as much as many other areas of the country. This type of environmentally benign energy production creates virtually no emissions and consumes no fossil fuels, however these facilities can take up to ten square miles if land making them difficult to accommodate.
Construction started in the 1980’s and continues into present day delays have been exacerbated due to lack of funding.
Wind Farms;
Efforts to harness the earths wind power. Wind energy has the potential to provide 10 to 15 percent of future world energy requirements, according to Paul Dimotakis, chief technologist at JPL. If ocean areas with high winds were tapped for wind energy, they could potentially generate 500 to 800 watts of energy per square meter. Dimotakis notes that while this is slightly less than solar energy (which generates about one kilowatt of energy per square meter), wind power can be converted to electricity more efficiently than solar energy and at a lower cost per watt of electricity produced. new technology has made floating wind farms in the open ocean possible. A number of wind farms are already in operation worldwide. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact than onshore wind farms, whose noise tends to disturb sensitive wildlife in their immediate area. Also, winds are generally stronger over the ocean than on land because there is less friction over water to slow the winds down - there are no hills or mountains to block the wind's path.
Ideally, offshore wind farms should be located in areas where winds blow continuously at high speeds.
Ideally, offshore wind farms should be located in areas where winds blow continuously at high speeds.
