Alice Springs drivet av solenergi - En jämförelse mellan solceller och Stirlingsystem

Sammanfattning: In the middle of Australia there is a city called Alice Springs. The city has one of the highest amounts of daily sunshine hours and sun irradiation in the world. The Australian Government runs a project called Solar Cities, and Alice Springs is one of the participators. The main part of the goal with the Solar Cities project is to increase the amount of electricity generated by solar power and by doing that lower the impact on the environment.   This thesis examines the possibilities for construction of a large scale solar power plant in Alice Springs. This is done to determine the potential of creating a more sustainable energy system in the city. Two different types of solar power methods are compared, solar cells and Stirling systems. One specific model of each two solar power method is selected. Calculations with respect to efficiency, costs and environmental impacts are made for each solar power method. The credibility of the results is analyzed by changes in the input used for the calculations and comparisons with results from other projects. Comparisons are made between the two different solar power methods based on the results of the calculations. Eventually, conclusions are presented about a construction of a large scale solar power plant in Alice Springs.   The result shows that the potential of creating a more sustainable energy system in Alice Springs, by constructing a large scale solar power plant, is considered to be great. The results obtained by the calculations indicates that both types of solar power systems are economical profitable, and at the same time lower the amount of carbon dioxide emissions heavily.   Differences in the results retrieved from the calculations of the solar power plants are small. The power plant consisting of solar cells generates 80,6GWh/year and the one consisting of Stirling systems 77,4GWh/year. In addition calculation shows a lowering of carbon dioxide emissions during generation of electricity by 22-34 % for the solar cell plant, and 18-30 % for the Stirling system plant, depending on which of the fossil fuels that are replaced. The payback time of the investment is calculated to 17 years for the Stirling system plant and 18 years for the solar cell plant. Both types of solar power plants have different benefits and disadvantages, and the difference between the results is small. Changes in the input used for the calculations highly influences the results between the solar power plants. It is therefore, based on this study, impossible to determine which kind of the solar power plant that would provide Alice Springs with the best conditions in sustainable energy perspective.