Comments on: 10 Questions for eSolar's CEO Asif Ansari

By: eSolar Wins Massive Solar Thermal Deal in China

eSolar Wins Massive Solar Thermal Deal in China — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:34:21 +0000

[...] the fuss about? eSolar former CEO Asif Ansari (the current CEO is now chip veteran John Van Scoter) previously explained it to us that the company builds 33 MW modular power plants, with thousands of flat mirrors that are one [...]

By: eSolar Moves Into Indian Market With $30M Deal « Earth2Tech

eSolar Moves Into Indian Market With $30M Deal « Earth2Tech — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:00:38 +0000

[...] and investment deal in as many weeks. These deals prove promising for the startup as the company has been pretty quiet about the details of its technology. The Pasadena, Calif.-based solar thermal developer said today that India’s Acme Group has [...]

By: VIMAL KUMAR

VIMAL KUMAR — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:55:20 +0000

Dear Mr. Ansari,

At first look it appeared to me that esolar has got the solution to replace fossil fuel world wide but only if you have taken care of question as under:-

• Do you have thermal storage arrangement so that the plant can work round the clock as it works in case of fossil fuel? • If you say that the generated energy cost per KWh is coming less by using your CSP technology than fossil fuel fired station without any thermal storage system then I am sure your system PLF will go much higher by adding thermal storage system & hence further reduction in per unit of energy generation. • What is your system PLF? • You said that you use normal TG but normal TGs are not supposed to be shutdown every evening? If yes then you must be wasting lot of thermal energy every morning in re-starting your TG. • What happens when there is no sun for few minutes (30-45) still your TG generates with same efficiency or you face some problem?

I feel that your initiatives are highly remarkable; this world really needs such bold steps to brake down the trends of fossil fuel dependency but I can see a path block for you in near future.

You must design a molten salt based thermal energy storage system. Molten salt will flow through all thermal receivers (no water) making system much more efficient & reliable.

I have been trained to handle molten salt thermal storage system in Europe & working on CSP project as project head in India. Unable to bring down per unit energy cost (US $ 0.30) at system PLF of about 60% even we are ready to fabricate all most all the plant components in India to bring down the cost. The CSP project site is in India with more than 6.4KW/m2/day of solar isolation.

VIMAL KUMAR Sr. Vice President ENTEGRA LIMITED Mob: +91-9810005877.

By: dvarraveto

dvarraveto — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:00:02 +0000

eSolar applied for a Conditional Use Permit (No. 2008000280) for a location in the Antelope Valley at 10250 E Ave "T". The north side of Ave "T", directly across the street, is already developed with existing homes.

By: Sanjay Verma

Sanjay Verma — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:30:20 +0000

It is necessory to know the cost of the project per mega watt ,without including the cost of the land.

And the efficiency of the project too.

At the same time i have a question in my mind that how we can run the project at night and other cloudy days ?

By: tranquas

tranquas — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:35:51 +0000

Good. What about storage. how many hours the plant can be operated and at what plant load factor. How much energy can be generated per MW/Year.

By: solar dude

solar dude — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:01:13 +0000

Almost all of the sites are being developed in Antelope Valley and the greater lancaster area. The planned sites are located in rural areas far from homes and most are actually on purchased land that was either used for farming or agricultural work.

By: Mike Suppe

Mike Suppe — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:23:50 +0000

I would like to know what type of impact your plants have on nearby homes. I understand some of your planned locations will be across the street from current homes and want to know what those home owners can expect during both the installation phase and the operation of the plant.

By: Jeff Kuper

Jeff Kuper — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:40:05 +0000

Katie and Craig,

First of all, thanks for all the content and links that you provide. Secondly, could you post your thoughts on this potential breakthrough for CSP and do a follow-up with Ansari, the boys at Ausra or Stirling Energy Systems?

The way I interpret this article as it relates to solar thermal electricity generation is that you could reduce the mirrors (numbers or size) by approximately 97 percent to produce the same amount of steam power since the energy to boil water is 30 times less using this nanotechnology. If true (or even if real world application is only half of what is advertised) this could further radically alter the project costs for solar thermal and could make them achieve grid parity RIGHT NOW. Pretty damn exciting but I want to hear from the experts that are actually involved with the industry to see if this technology is practical to use in CSP.

Please let me know your thoughts. Here’s the link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080626150930.htm

By: Deep Patel

Deep Patel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:16:40 +0000

Its great to see the response to question #9, the federal tax credit is expiring and has many industry people worried. Although it seems like eSolar is going to move forward in the US market even without the tax credits. This is a great example of a free market....we really need clean energy to compete without subsidies, if we can achieve this through innovation, not even big oil can stop the clean energy revolution.

What upsets me the most in particular is that the US energy policy favors big oil, congress subsidizes billions of dollars a year to big oil...and want to remove the modest subsidies given to clean energy.