Re:The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (2006)
by ams6110 on Saturday March 02, 2013 @07:37PM
(#5311892)
I would speculate (but don't know) that concentration of the heat energy to power a more conventional steam generation plant would be more efficient, at least beyond a certain scale. The best photovoltaic panels are about 20% efficient under optimal conditions.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
They are also closer to the consumer, negating a big chunk of the transmission losses.
Also, while thermal electric plants may be more efficient at large scale, I'm not sure how that works at small scale, or if there is a difference in how much capacity they lose in cloudy weather compared to photovoltaics. Actually, I wonder what the ratio of installed photovoltaics to thermals is per region and generator scale.