Heads up on Science with ScienceNetwork WA The paraspeckle is named due to its close or parallel proximity to
region has the potential to supply power to other parts of the
another nuclear body called the splicing speckle.
State.
Sunny side up on Wheatbelt solar power
“By contrast the large-scale iron ore mining operations in the
MORE than 50 per cent of the Wheatbelt could be used to generate concentrated solar power (CSP), which can be stored to provide electricity after dark, a new University of Western Australia report reveals.
east would be more suited to medium scale CPS and the excess electricity generated from these could help supply the residential energy needs of Kalgoorlie and/or other industries such as gold mining,” Prof Boruff says.
An extract from the UWA report on providing solar energy in the Wheatbelt. Photo courtesy Professor Bryan Boruff, UWA. The UWA study “Assessing the potential for concentrated solar power development in rural Australia”, uncovered large swathes
Curtin’s portal to the future
of the Wheatbelt that could be used to house Western Australia’s
GROUNDBREAKING research from Curtin University is being
first CSP or thermal solar power station. The discovery is the first step towards providing renewable
showcased online for the first time – opening a portal for industry, community and scientists to engage in university projects.
energy to thousands of homes and businesses along the Great Eastern Highway and at sites stretching from the Wheatbelt’s far east to central and northern coastal zones. The Wheatbelt has an ageing power grid already operating at full capacity. Officials are worried any industrial development or population increases will trigger power shortages in the region. “The largest tracts of suitable lands have been identified along the Great Eastern Highway between Cunderdin and Southern Cross,” the report says. Study author and UWA’s environmental management and geography expert Bryan Boruff says his team focused on areas that were adequately flat and sunny, close to roads and sub stations and with no agriculture, aboriginal heritage or environmental values. “You could put these (CSP) on the western-side of Merredin and connect to the grid,” Professor Boruff says. “There is real retail value in what we have done. “We [the State of WA] are actually ahead of the curve in identifying sites using the method we used.”
Curtin looks into the near future, in emerging and groundbreaking technologies. Photo courtesy SXC.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Emerging Technologies (ET) research website was launched in January and within months it will display major, internationallyimportant citizen science projects alongside key studies. Through the portal, the public will have the opportunity to work
Unlike more well-known photovoltaic solar cells used on
with researchers and scientists on projects such as the Square
residential housing, concentrated solar uses mirrors to focus
Kilometre Array (SKA), Curtin’s strategic projects director Paul
sunlight onto a molten salt solution which retains heat, allowing
Nicholls said.
the energy to be stored. Stored heat is converted to steam which drives a turbine or engine to produce electricity without the intermittent power problems plaguing photovoltaic systems.
Australia is vying with South Africa for the $3 billion SKA project – which uses both light and radio waves to look into the centre of the galaxy, enabling scientists to see objects which formed billions of years ago – to be built in the Shire of Murchison, in
The system can be married with “dirtier” energy sources, such coal
Western Australia’s Mid-West.
or gas, and it has a lower carbon footprint than other renewable
“This project will allow university students, schools and the
energy technologies, Prof Boruff says.
general public to devote their idle computer processing power
CSP technology requires direct sunlight and level terrain, but
towards processing the terabytes (1012) of data that will be
despite WA’s vast expanses of flat sunny landscapes, Australia
produced by radio telescopes,” Mr Nicholls said.
lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to investing in thermal solar
“We are trying to build links internally with researchers, we are trying to build the external relationships with industry and
Prof Boruff says that while small-scale development for local
government and we’re trying to engage the community in ICT,
power generation in the Wheatbelt is quickly achievable, the
particularly students and the general public.”
VOLUME 47 NUMBER 1 MARCH 2011
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