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  • And grid scale is not being considered in my country for solar, yet the government just approved a new offshore drill site. The green option still remains the most expensive.

  • grid scale is not being considered in my country for solar

    Well, having the sun go down for six months at a time makes it a less than ideal location 🙂

    In the spirit of "What If?", I wondered about solar in the Empty Quarter. Saudi pumps about 10 million bbl a day of crude, which at 6GJ/bbl is
    6×1016/(24×3600)=7×1011W
    Solar PV can do about 200W.m-2, but not all day and there are transmission losses unless everybody moves, so say 50W.m-2 on average given the location.
    That gives 14000km2 of solar required to replace Saudi oil, or 2% of the Empty Quarter
    The announced Saudi target for solar by 2030 is just 6×1010W

    ETA: For wind power, based on replicating Hornsea Project 3 (2.4GW plated power, 696km2), and assuming 40% load factor, replacing 7×1011W of oil power would need turbines extending over a total area of 200,000km2, or about 1/3 of the total area of the North Sea

  • Well, having the sun go down for six months at a time makes it a less than ideal location 🙂

    It must be worse in London’s Famous since we’re south of it by a couple of degrees.

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