Thirteenth European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
23-27 October, 1995 Acropolis Convention Center in Nice, France
"In the alarm-ridden, media-meshed world in which we live, another crisis call can no longer be depended upon to meet the need. Humanity in every nation must be readily provided environmentally- protective energy solutions with related products commercialized through sound financial and marketing strategies that will responsibly address our growing energy needs, today -not only ten to twenty years down the road. I believe the Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome™ Power Station is one of the technologies that meet the needed criteria. As a real estate investment, the financial proforma is quite attractive with a five to six year payoff on an investment that will provide nearly $1 million dollars a year non-polluting grid-connected or stand-alone energy and real estate income for twenty years. I welcome your knowledge and guidance to put photovoltaics in its place as a World Trade Commodity of the 21st Century."
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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 Civilization has embraced a highly refined essence of culture for well over 2,000 years. Commerce and quality of life have danced in a delicate and at times bold interplay throughout the evolution of humankind. Yet, never so precariously as it does, today.
The earth and its abundant blessings and resources sway on a pendulum in orbit between the drive for survival and the corruptibility of commerce. Decisions regarding global resources are now -more than ever -entertwined with the very essence of global survival. We may no longer separate the issue of fuels for our individual automobiles and energy production choices from our collective journey together on planet earth.
People around the world are asking for responsible energy products, it is up to us to put them within reach and within budget. Mainstream commercialization of PV solar energy technologies through residential and commercial real estate development industry will place us on the road to the massive changes needed in the energy industry. Mass production and mainstream use are the goals.
We are not strangers to the many externalities and hazards of traditional energy resources. However, when we compare the advance of technologies like television, computers, digital equipment, aviation and space travel it is curious to me we have so slowly advanced the use of PV technology as a practical and important resource.
1.2 History of Photovoltaics
French physicist Edmond Becauerel first described the photovoltaic effect in 1839. The effect was first studied in solids by Heinrich Hertz in the 1870s, soon afterward, selenium photovoltaic (PV) cells were converting light to electricity at 1% to 2% efficiency. In 1954, scientists at Bell Laboratories depended on the Czochralski process to develop the first crystalline silicon photovoltaic (or solar) cell, which had an efficiency of 4%[1] March 17, 1958, a satellite christened the Vanguard I began an era of space-based PV generated electricity.
The energy crisis of the 1970s sparked a major effort by the government and industry to make PV more affordable. Today's commercial PV systems can convert from 5% to 15% of sunlight to electricity. The cost of PV-generated electricity has dropped and PV modules now cost around $6 per watt(W). They produce electricity for as little as 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh). Shipments of PV modules have increased in the last twenty years from none to 45 MW in 1990, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory predict 1000 MW of PV before the end of this century.[2]
Although, there are numerous projects listed in Photovoltaic: Contract Summary Lists Fiscal Year 1993, in comparison with major energy sources, photovoltaics is not even listed on the chart.[3] How could PV possibly compete in the fossil fuel or nuclear energy economics with so little production? PV is included in the small section labeled 'other' in the U.S. Annual Energy Report to Congress for 1994. This other category of energy resources has only grown from 0.5% in 1975 to 0.6% in 1994.[4] It is perhaps important to take a deep breath and consider our twenty miles of paradise -earth's atmosphere as we renew commitment to a viable action plan.
1.3 Opportunities Missed
Since reform and opening of China was launched in 1979, an energy production and consumption system has been established with coal at its core, complimented primarily by nuclear, oil and hydro-electric all producing substantial hazards and externality expense. Although, solar energy provides many economic and environmental benefits and is listed as part of China's stated environmental strategy, there is no discussion in the April Beijing Review article of actual sustainable energies being used in their major redevelopments of this decade.
Enron proposed a 2000 MW power station redevelopment plan for India. The Wall Street Journal recently indicated this plan was rejected by India's government due to the negative environmental impact, and their dislike of large remote energy power plants. Enron should be encouraged to pursue PV applications in their energy package -after all they own Solarex one of the oldest photovoltaic companies in the USA.
ADDED NOTE 1997: The founder of Solarex, Dr. Lindmayer passed away in October, 1995. It appears the major activity Enron has accomplished in photovoltaics since purchasing Solarex in the 1980s when they were experiencing cashflow difficulties is using Solarex patents to sue thriving PV companies for alleged patent infringements and putting them out of business. Arco Solar is the most significant example. The batten-seam and standing seam rooftops designed by United Solar were held up in litigation by Solarex - Amoco - Enron from 1994 to 1997. While historic and present parties from Solarex assure us this is all very necessary; it is certainly slowing the emergence of viable PV products into the mainstream marketplace because of the way the litigation and disputes are being delayed. How could a patent infringement lawsuit take three years to settle? The substantial and mismanaged resources of Enron - Amoco - Solarex demonstrate clearly the problems in large over-sized cartels and how they impede progress. They could be a threat to any company going into PV manufacturing. After their polycrystalline patents were aged out, then they began suing for thin film. There should be included in PV GAPS guidelines for the industry -a preferred form of dispute resolution that allows all parties of every economic level to pursue their disputes in a timely and judicial manner. Certainly, everyone's rights to be awarded royalties for their patents is at stake, however it would not be ethical for only the largest companies to be able to evolve a dispute resolution process to protect their patents, business and copyrighted materials. END ADDED NOTE 11/97
At the Soltech/UPVG Conference in San Antonio last April, I met nuclear energy professionals attending a nuclear energy conference at the same hotel. They were quite concerned about the safe storage of nuclear waste, and encouraged activities to accelerate the commercialization of photovoltaics. We must clear up the myth that PV is an expensive energy resource. In 1985, I worked for the Northwest Power Planning Council where I organized the legal database and public information library for a major lawsuit concerning five nuclear power plants in Washington state. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated two of these five power plants are now -ten years and millions of dollars later -being demolished without having produced one kWh of energy. A gentleman from Austria shared with me, today, a similar circumstance in a community near his home. With this in mind, let us consider a sustainable technology with far less risk and expense.
2. HEADRICK SOLAR-VOLTAIC DOME(TM)POWER STATION
2.1 Form Follows Function
During the past ten years another kind of opportunity was being explored. Lt. Colonel Richard T. Headrick made an important impact as a B17 pilot in World War II by destroying major transportation routes of Hitler's extermination regime. His recent book A Mighty Fortress is quite interesting. In the early 1980s, he designed a dome structure for a prominent congregation in Southern California. During that process, he was asked if it was possible to use solar panels on the roof to provide energy for the facility.
This question captured Colonel Headrick's curiosity and attention for several years. He used the Hesperia Solar Power Plant in California as an existing example for calculations. It is a one acre solar field with a packing density of 60kWp producing only 10 kWp of DC electricity on an acre. The configuration is highly limited by the shadowing pattern. Further, there is no secondary use of this land adding significant costing and aesthetics considerations.[6]
Colonel Headrick found the most efficient dome solar field to require a solar array 208.7 feet in diameter (70 meter) with a height of 75 feet (25 meters). The function of the arrays throughout a solar day actually designed this system increasing the number of solar panels per acre from six modules per acre to a 21,000 SF (2,000 m2) solar PV array positioned at 300 450 and 600 angles. Such solar geometric configuration increases the packing density on an acre 6.4 times with an output of approximately 384 kWp. This far exceeds the estimated six percent loss of the sun-scanning accuracy of the solar farm incorporating a two-axis tracking system. Further, this dome configuration creates a valuable real estate investment consideration providing over 34,000 SF (3,400 m2) leasable on each floor under the solar power station roof. This structure can be reduced to 100 feet in diameter and increased to 400 feet in diameter with only marginal loss of efficiency per the area used.
2.2 Solar Power At Every Latitude
Jon McGowan, a mechanical engineer at the University of Massachusetts conducted a study of this invention for the U.S. Department of Energy in 1986 indicating the mathematics of the invention are sound. At that time it was suggested for Third World Markets despite its strong payback characteristics for traditional real estate investors.[7] As of this report, a premier of this application has not been built. Arco Solar conducted a study to determine how much Headrick's configuration varies in efficiency from one latitude to another. They discovered it only varied 5% in comparing Norway and Miami. The three angles of the solar array provide a stationary vertical tracking effect while the roof itself tracks the sun horizontally across the sky producing 1.5 MWh of clean non-polluting energy daily figured at 5.5 peak hours using 20 percent consideration for rainy days.
2.3 Economic Summary
The following is an economic summary of the Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) completed by an accountant, Walter R. Reed in 1986:
| Foot Print | 34,618 SF (3,400m2) | |
| Medium Array | 250 kWp DC Output | |
| Capital Cost | $4,200,000 (incl. base structure) | |
| Active Energy | 500,000 kWh/yr | |
| Passive Energy | 2,500,000 kWh/yr | |
| (1.) Energy Value | 14 cents kWh | |
| *Revenue first year | $300,000 kWh | |
| (2.) Value of Space | Figured at $12 SF | |
| *Revenue first year | $415,000 | |
| Payback Summaries - No Tax Figures | ||
| Six (6) Year Payback w/No Inflation Factor | ||
| Five (5) Year Payback 5% Inflation Factor | ||
This example of the Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome Power Station is shown with a medium array -the ideal size for maximum efficiency. The modular design of the movement can accommodate a significantly larger array of PV cells as requirements demand. A larger dome could easily provide up to 400 kWp/DC of power and adapt to retrofit.
AUTHOR's NOTE: In my analysis of this economic evaluation I find the prediction of 2,500,000 kWh per year of passive solar savings due to the shading and insulating qualities of the dome roof to be overly generous. The active electricity generation at around $75,000 year is part of the $300,000 total this accountant has estimated. With the passive solar savings figured so highly, the figure is overly optimistic. In fact I have not included any passive savings figures in my economic evaluations due to the fact that it would be very difficult estimate accurately without performance data of a full-scale prototype project. The array is known engineering and the photovoltaics output is proven, therefore we seek to build a prototype within a functioning project. The active solar output is a straight forward estimate based on known dimensions of the structure and known capabilities of photovoltaics technology.
NOTE 1997 UPDATE: In the inventor's hometown of Irvine, California the array will produce 2.5 to 3 MWh per day 300 days a year using at least 12% efficiency PV surface. There are two new PV breakthroughs from Sandia Laboratories producing 21% efficiency and a 23% efficiency PV surface developed by a research group in Australia. We have produced the following income table based on use of the same dome array using a 20% efficiency PV surface. In our evaluation the capital costs of the structure are included separately to allow more accuracy and flexibility in determining the costs and return on the dollar. We subtract a 20% building materials replacement value percentage subtracted from the cost of the array due to its contribution as a building material. Further, the 14 cents kWh reflects the highest cost of electricity in the nation. We reduced this potential income to 10 cents kWh to be more realistic in evaluating the project return on the dollar. This amended economic evaluation, we believe, will provide a more realistic estimate of return on the dollar for this photovoltaic array assuring the highest and best use costing evaluations are accurate.
The following is an economic summary of the Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) completed by Eileen M. Smith, M.Arch. author and printed as an added note in November, 1997:
| Foot Print | 34,618 SF (3,400m2) |
| Medium Array | 21,000 SF PV Surface |
| PV Surface 20% Efficiency | 420 kWp on Acre |
| PV Array Capital Cost | $1,680,000 installed |
| Cost Less 20% Building Materials Value Discount | $1,350,000 installed |
| Capital Cost Building @ $30 SF | $1,050,000 |
| Estimated Cost For Land @ $20 SF | $700,000 |
| Total Estimated Capital Costs | $3,100,000 |
| Climate Conditions | 6 Peak Sun Hours Day 300 Days Year |
| Active Energy | 756,000 kWh/yr |
| (1.) Energy Value | 10 cents kWh |
| *Revenue first year | $75,600 Year |
| *Twenty Year PV Array Returns (20 Year Warranty) | $1,512,000 |
| (2.) Value of Space | Figured at $12 SF |
| *Revenue first year (total value lost w/field array) | $415,000 |
| (3.) Total Investment | $3,100,000 |
| *Combined Yearly Income | $490,000 |
| *Combined Twenty Year Income | $9,800,000 |
| Payback Summaries - No Tax Figures | |
| Ten (10) Year Payback w/No Inflation Factor | |
| Seven (7) Year Payback Without Interest | |
END ADDED NOTE 1997
2.4 The Solar Development Cooperative
I was introduced to Colonel Headrick and his Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Station while researching alternative energy applications for an historic landmark in Kansas City, Missouri.[8] With twenty years of training and experience in architecture, solar energy technology and land development, the potential of this solar application as an attractive real estate investment and as an important catalyst to the mass production and use of PV building materials is obvious and of significant interest to me. The problem is how best to educate people about its many benefits, and how best to strategize these benefits globally?
The Solar Development Cooperative was founded to accelerate use of solar and energy conservation applications in architecture primarily in the Western real estate marketplace. We are fully committed to realizing mainstream commercialization of the Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Station within the next five years applying existing technology. Presently, we are using a software package from Sandia National Laboratories to generate a comparative analysis of this solar dome application with the Solar Stirling Dish.
The hybrid solar dish developed by Stirling Company was recently awarded (with the aid of the U.S. Department of Energy) a $35 million dollar funding package to facilitate commercialization of their technology. To produce 365 kWp with this hybrid solar technology, it would cost approximately $3 million dollars and use significant land. As the proforma herein indicates, Headrick's Configuration offers many benefits with the solar dome roof application costing less than $2 million dollars for 384 kWp independent of structural base costs.
2.5 A Three-World-Powers PV Competition
The first phase of my fifteen-year $4 billion dollar business plan of this important solar application in the United States calls for development of 100 Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Stations by the year 2000. That is two projects per state demanding private investment of $6 to $8 million dollars with construction and 80% payback of $350 million achieved by the year 2005.
This is a small niche in the U.S. energy infrastructure budget of $200 billion for this decade as outlined by the Department of Energy 1996 Budget-In-Brief; Energy for Today and Tomorrow - Investments for a Strong America. The 100 Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Stations By 2000 Program Plan FY 1991-FY 1995. "The mission of the National Photovoltaic Program is to help U.S. industry to develop photovoltaic technology for large-scale generation of economically competitive electric power in the United States making PV a significant part of economically competitive electric power in the United States Making PV a significant part of our national energy mix."
To keep America to this commitment, we herein formally challenge the European Commission and Japan to a five-year competition with cooperation through a formal commitment to facilitate the development of 100 Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Stations within their nation's borders by the year 2000 with over fifty percent grid-connected systems. Presently, large and medium-scale grid-connected applications represent only 5% of the total European PV market.[9] The Thousand Roofs Program applied primarily to residential projects in the German States was highly successful, and is an excellent foundation for the 100 Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Stations By 2000 Program.
Truly, Colonel Headrick has provided us an important stepping stone toward our world legacy of peace through sustainable and autonomous energy into the 21st Century. Already, I have received a cooperative response from officials in each of these three countries, and will be developing formal rules, agreements and documents in the next three months. I welcome your knowledge and commitment to use this fascinating PV application as we put photovoltaics in its place a viable and thriving World Trade Commodity.
REFERENCES
[1]Frank F. Kreith, Jan F. Krider, PhD; Solar Handbook; Chapter 24, McGraw Hill, Inc. 1981
2Office of Solar energy Conversion United States Department of Energy, SOLAR 2000 -A Collaborative Strategy Volume I, Feb. 1992
[3]U.S. Department of Energy; Photovoltaics: Contract Summary Lists Fiscal Year 1993
[4]U.S. Department of Energy; Annual Report To Congress 1994 Energy Information Administration[5]Wu Naitao; Energy Sector Seeks More Foreign Cooperation, Beijing Review; Vol. 38 No. 17; April 24-30, 1995
[6]Colonel Headrick; September 10, 1995 benefit dinner in Kansas City, Missouri for 13th European PV Solar Energy Conference, The Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Invented by Lt. Col. Richard T. Headrick; -speech manuscript
[7]Jon McGowan, mechanical engineer at the University of Massachusetts in Amhurst, Boston; Report for U.S. Department of Energy Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Station 1986
[8]Susan Ferguson; An Alternative View -A Woman's (architect) Vision for Union Station Includes Development of Solar Power Station; The Wednesday Magazine, Kansas City, Missouri USA, September 6, 1995
[9]Commission of the European Communities Directorate General for Energy; Photovoltaics In 2010 -PV 2010 -Executive Summary 1995
ILLUSTRATION NOTE:
In the poster included with this text please note that 1.5 MW Daily, should read 1.5 MWh Daily. EMS
Headrick Solar-Voltaic Dome(TM) Power Station |
