May 15, 2024
The Red Knight and the Dawn of the Solar Dragon (Encore)
Once upon a time, there were honest and friendly dragons who heated the boilers for steam-powered electric turbines. But due to the high cost of dragon energy, the King decided that the dragons needed to be replaced, sparking a bloody dragon war that led to the invention of solar power.
True Solar Takeaways
- Fossil fuel-based generators work by burning fossil fuels, which boil water to high temperatures. The boiled, high-pressure water produces steam that spins an electric turbine, generating electricity.
- Unionized labor dominates the energy industry, including solar.
- All utilities contract or own stand-by power plants known as "spinning reserves" or "Peaker plants." Peaker plants run 24/7 to provide backup power for when the grid is overloaded--typically when it's a hot summer day and more homes and buildings are using air conditioning.
- Utilities, states, and kingdoms pay a significantly higher price for Peaker Plant energy.
- The photovoltaic effect is how solar power is produced. When sunlight shines on a special semiconductor material, the sunlight excites electrons and creates a flow of electricity into a direct current.
- Tandem perovskite solar cells are coming soon. They promise higher solar cell efficiencies (more generated solar power) at a lower price, but as of July 2023, they haven't been commercialized yet.
- Wind power is one of the least expensive forms of energy today.
- Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are increasingly gaining market share for backing up solar power.
- Energy wonks often refer to the cost of energy over time as the "Levelized Cost of Energy" or LCOE. It allows them to compare the total cost of a solar plant to, say, a gas or coal plant. Today, solar has the lowest LCOE.
- Milanium is an imaginary rare-earth metal. However, solar and clean energy is in great need of many rare-earth metals and not-so-are minerals. These include silicon, the base element for making solar cells for solar panels, and lithium for making rechargeable batteries.
- For all the True Solar Takeaways in this dragon story, read the episode notes of Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
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Series Story: "The Solar Heist or How I Got into the Solar Business"
Probably True Solar Stories has a long solar "mini-series." Listen to the Solar Heist series here. Then explore the other shorter stand-alone stories below.