Concentrated Solar Power Process

PAKISTAN has a vast desert area in Thar that is lying without any use. A fraction of this area could be gainfully utilised to produce electricity through the process of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).

This process utilises thousands of parabolic mirrors which focus or concentrate sunlight on pipe carrying water that is heated through the concentrated solar rays and gets converted into steam. The steam thus produced is used to power the steam turbines which in turn generate electricity.

The process is cheaper and more efficient than the usual form of solar power that uses solar panels to convert the sunlight into electricity.

It may be mentioned that a project with the name of Desertec has already been launched by 12 European companies with a hefty amount of $560bn using this process.

Through this project, huge solar farms involving thousands and thousands of mirrors would be set up in the desert of Africa and the Middle East. Only, 0.3 per cent desert area would be used to produce electricity which would be delivered to Europe’s homes and factories by the end of the next decade.

The electricity so generated would cost less than oil and would be sufficient to meet 15 per cent of Europe’s total electricity demand by 2030.

The electricity would be brought to Europe over a long distance besides passing through the sea. It is estimated that CSP may be able to meet 25 per cent of total world energy demand by 2050.

Keeping this spectacular example in view, Pakistan should also venture into the production of electricity through concentrated solar power (CSP). By tapping energy through CSP, the country wouldn’t pay for the import of oil as the raw material used would be the sun’s rays. This project can easily be started in the vast Thar Desert.

In our case, the electricity thus produced would be cheaper as the distance involved would not be that long, the entire infrastructure would be in our own country, the process doesn’t involve passing cables under the sea, no security threat, no political issues, etc.

AIR COMMODORE (R) AZFAR A. KHAN
Rawalpindi, Pakistan E-mail: http://mailto:azfar44@hotmail.com