Largest urban solar power plant closer to reality
Exelon is one of the nations's largest electric utilities. The Exelon solar power plant would consist of more than 30,000 solar panels on a site in Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood.
Exelon says it would generate enough electricity to power about 1,200 homes.
The Chicago city council has approved a lease for the vacant industrial site, which is considered a brownfield.
The plant may have local support, but it will still take a major federal commitment to make it happen.
Exelon says the project depends on government guarantees for some 50 million dollars in loans, about 80 percent of the cost.
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NEW YORK - With the addition of sensors and enhanced communication tools, providing lightweight, portable power has become even more challenging. Army-funded research demonstrated a new approach to turning thermal energy into electricity that could provide compact and efficient power for Soldiers on future battlefields.
Hot objects radiate light in the form of photons into their surroundings. The emitted photons can be captured by a photovoltaic cell and converted to useful electric energy. This approach to energy conversion is called far-field thermophotovoltaics, or FF-TPVs, and has been under development for many years; however, it suffers from low power density and therefore…
