About Us
Solar Power&Water offers a modern technology which applies a thermal gradient solar pond and a proprietary low-pressure expander to produce electricity and to refine water. We call the unit a "Power and Water Farm" with a standard pond size of 60 acres, well suited to ocean and Gulf water, each producing approximately one megawatt and 62 million gallons or 190 acre feet (ac-ft) of distilled water per year. The source water can be any available saline water including the ocean, salt lakes, agricultural wastewater, saline or polluted groundwater, wastewater from existing reverse osmosis plants, and rivers and streams. See Solar pond.
See our Inputs and Outputs data. We expect to be a low cost producer of power. Recognize that because a solar pond functions like a thermal battery charged by the sun, the power output of a pond/plant (our SPP™) will be continuous, capable of peaking any time of day or night, varying only with seasons. Of all sustainable power systems, only our solar power system also produces water. See also our Solar Power&Water System description and our submitted "comments" or proposals responding to a widely distributed U.S. Bureau of Reclamation request.
Globally, the power and water potential of our SPPs is vast. In Australia alone using just 1% of the land area, SPPs supplied by ocean water and saline lakes could produce 0.25 terrawatts of power and 200 million ac-ft/yr of fresh water; this power could replace dirty power from the burning of soft coal, and the water represents a good start to alleviate Australian water shortages and turn Australia's deserts green. Natural CO2 sequestration is implicit. Similarly, other deserts can be watered. The Colorado River in the U.S. can be augmented to offset drought and shortages; California's Salton Sea can be restored to either full-sized fresh water or converted to a clean saline fish-friendly resort lake. Possibilities worldwide not mentioned here are many.
Solar Power&Water® Inc. has an advantage over other solar power systems, including wind which is solar based. Photovoltaic panels are used for converting sunshine into power. And wind energy machines are used for converting wind energy into power. Both receive the energy as a direct handout, almost like beggars. A PV panel is like an open hand hoping to receive sunbeams, and, similarly, a wind machine blade awaits a handout of wind. No handout equals no power production. But Solar Power&Water® Inc. is different. We reach into a solar pond and withdraw brine containing stored heat energy which is continuously available. The pond stores solar energy independently, whenever it is available, and independent of when or how much brine we take. That is why Solar Power&Water® Inc. will produce power without interruption. Also we have the advantage of no need to clean dust periodically from PV panels or solar reflectors to avoid loss in performance; unfortunately cleaning burdens shrinking water supplies. We have experienced a microburst we suspect would be very damaging to our competitors. The Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Energy both classified our technology as related to OTEC, or ocean thermal energy conversion. We do not agree. And both forecast that our system will not be economic. Again we do not agree. We have the honor to be in competition with all other sustainable energy technologies and all other sustainable water production technologies. And perhaps uniquely we expect to create oases.
Solar Power&Water® Inc. is evidently the only sustainable technology endeavor which is self funded. See Donations. As a 501(c)3 Nonprofit Corporation, Solar Power&Water® Inc. is not owned by anyone. It is operated for the benefit of the citizens of the United States and by default for the world. Thus it is a gift from the two founders. It is not subsidized and is operating in the best traditions of free enterprise. If all goes well, we will create an entirely new Industry. No loan guarantees are anticipated.
Mission Statement: We face the challenge to occupy a unique place in the field of sustainable technology. We are not motivated by concern for greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide sequestration or climate change, but by the desire to meet societal needs for clean, renewable energy, clean fresh water (new water if you prefer), remediation of poor water, and the surprising companion benefits of enhanced farming independent of soil with hydroponics using our distilled water with nutrients. The world is our resource; we expect to make it better.
The threat of climate change plus population growth on farming and adequate food supply is of increasing concern. Also the availability of water. We have been advocating hydroponic farming as a means to optimize resources, especially when supported by Solar Power&Water® Inc. water. This was mentioned during Richard’s brief address to the Southern Nevada Water Authority Board on 2/16/06. Successful farming serves as an impediment to new methods, so the move to hydroponics has been slow. Arrangements are being made to explore hydroponic farming on a small scale in Ejido Johnson in the Communities of the Ciénega de Santa Clara in Mexico, done by presumably unsophisticated but dedicated villagers for village food and for income, while determining best methods and best crops for the vicinity. A good outcome will suggest our SPPs combined with hydroponics could form oases of power, water, and food in regions such as Australia’s Outback and sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. Aquaculture could be included. The available power driving electric incineration enables sanitation in these oases. The non-food portion of the crops might be used as cattle feed or biomass for biofuels at no additional burden on land or water resources. Requests for support for this oasis creation endeavor have been declined, as have all other requests for funds. [[hypothetical anecdote: The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Department is tasked with supporting solar energy. The department has a special door, normally open. Drive up your pickup truck, tell the intercom you have a plan to make more efficient PV cells, hear enter, drive your truck under the hopper, and see your truck bed get filled with money. Same for promise of better transfer fluid for CSP trough systems, or better mirrors for power towers, or pinwheel blades with better contours. Maybe hear offer of a lush loan guarantee. But approach the door with a promising solar energy pond system as Richard did, see door slam shut, and hope good reflexes avoid your getting a broken nose.]]
Status of System Test and Demonstration, Dome Valley, Arizona (status report updated monthly) - also see Test Site Sign
On August 22,2010 we shut down the well pumps to pause to make pond repairs then expected to take a few months. The construction of our pond was completed initially, but salts in the water gradually damaged the seal, resulting in leakage; this damage process evidently was continuing. We had been destroying troublesome cattail by spraying with herbicide. We spray painted about half of the pond with a clay slurry to re-seal the pond, but with little success. We believe dead cattail roots left in place would provide leakage paths for a long time, thus requiring removal. 32,224 yards of cattail roots were removed from the pond. Testing of candidate sealing methods yielded encouraging results, guiding our reconstruction procedures. Pond bottom reconstruction is proceeding well according to plan, starting with the east berm and proceeding westward in segments. The pond bottom has been reconstructed and the south access lane closed. More than 118,530 yards of clay and dirt have been moved in the reconstruction. All of the clay needed for the pond bottom was trucked into the pond. The progress is easily seen by visitors and onlookers traveling N Gila Levee Rd. Gravel has been spread and compacted on the berms to prevent erosion after first spraying with pre-emergent herbicide to block the growth of salt cedar. The grid anchors are in place, the wave grids are assembled, and the anchor lines are installed. The 24 inch diameter brine return line resides adjacent to the north berm, the joints are sealed, air vents cut, and the line is anchored. This 0.50 mile long brine return line is required because of the elongated shape of this pond. Pond refill will be in segments starting at the east end with our Wishing Well water whose salinity is above cattail tolerance. Less saline Well #1 water can be used as makeup for evaporation. This process plus water analysis will enable forecasting a solar collection start. The drying of the pond halted the removal of carbon dioxide from the air, stopping sequestration and the creation of carbon credits. Wishing Well water flow into the east end of the pond was started October 28,2011, stopped, and restarted; flow was increased to pump capacity. For Wishing Well flow surveillance including night signal, visit http://alert.logitech.com/, ID richard@solarpowerandwater.com, PassWord pattycake. Also see equipment surveillance.
The pond is part of the local environment, for which reason we have installed a weather station to measure and record the climate. For the pond weather and location (Map/zoom), see http://weatherlink.com/user/solarpond/ Of special interest is an insolation solar data logger to measure the actual solar energy flux into the pond, rather than using reference values. Insolation data are consistent with producing 1 MW from the pond.
We appreciate the patience of the few of you who are interested in our technology. Meanwhile the resident water fowl and the many feathered visitor observers have left and will also need to be patient during the repairs. This includes the migratory birds and the many feathered nightly guests of this Certified Wildlife Habitat™. There are two resident egrets and some plovers, joined occasionally by numerous seagulls and a few Canada Geese and some ducks.
Our start was delayed by 16 months pending the long awaited transfer of land from Reclamation to Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (WMIDD). We are grateful and fortunate for the skill and dedication of our equipment operators, and especially for the support of WMIDD. Our location is fortuitous. The pond is in the sunniest location in the U.S. We are about 40 yards from a natural delivery system for our water which will in effect result in storage in Lake Mead for sale. And we are about the same distance to an electric grid which will enable wheeling our power to a distant customer.
Job Creation: Press releases concerning U.S. Department of Energy Recovery Act funding typically report the anticipated creation of thousands of jobs. Our self-funded energy project job creation is actual, having provided full time employment for 16 or more during the extended period of pond construction, and employing about the same during the pond repairs. This number will vary during the machinery fabrication until system completion. This first system construction will serve as a template for the many which will follow. Our system is being designed to operate unattended, with some scheduled maintenance.
Our Technology:
- Water Shortages
- Salton Sea Demise - an Opinion
- Salton Sea Plan#2 and Opinions
- Solar Power&Water desal looking forward
- Capacity Factor
- Optimism
Donations:
Notice: Power&Water is spelled without spaces. Our name is a trademark. So also is our logo.
Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved. Solar Power&Water® Inc.
Solar Power&Water® Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) Tax Exempt Non-Profit Organization
Richard A. McKay, Roger S. Sprankle, and this website exclusively represent Solar Power&Water® Inc. and our SPPs.
Email Richard at richard@solarpowerandwater.com or Roger at rogers@solarpowerandwater.com
This Site Last Updated 5/7//2012