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This sounds like a brilliant idea. Instead of off-shore wind farms, off-shore solar power generation. Convert the electrical energy into chemical one (methanol)

This sounds like a brilliant idea. Instead of off-shore wind farms, off-shore solar power generation. Convert the electrical energy into chemical one (methanol) and ship it to the consumers. No need for huge upfront investments (those huge wind turbines must cost a pretty penny), or for large underwater cables to carry electricity inland. These floating solar panels could be deployed far away from maritime sea lines, like in the middle of the Pacific. Plenty of sun. No problem with sandstorms, like for solar farms in deserts. If a hurricane is forecasted, you pack up and move away. No need to buy the land from owners who want to hold out for a better price. What's not to like?

bsder 7y ago
> What's not to like? Salt. Salt makes operating things in the seas an absolute maintenance nightmare.
- D_Alex 7y ago
  Oh, yesss. Also, bird poop. Seriously - it is already a problem for solar cells on unmanned offshore oil and gas platforms.
  - credit_guy 7y ago
    If this was completely without any obstacles, it would have been brought to market about 50 years ago. There are obstacles for sure, but they don't sound insurmountable to me. Salt. Salt is a problem for anything that floats on the ocean. Plenty of things do that, it's not such a deal breaker. Bird poop. You need to either be close to some islands, or in the middle of some migration line. In the Pacific ocean there are millions of square miles that don't qualify for either of that. Barnacles, mollusks, etc. Maybe you can get away with some special paints, or with periodic cleanup. Mauybe you need to coat the bottom of the floating structure with some film of pesticide-infused plastic. I don't know. But I'm willing to give this idea a chance to succeed. What are the alternatives? Floating nuclear power plants?
    - D_Alex 7y ago
      >What are the alternatives? This is exactly the right question. Assuming that the goal is a reduction in atmospheric CO2, there are many alternatives that are at least an order of magnitude more cost-effective. Of those, more land based wind and solar plants are for now the best. The cost of land generally is almost negligibly small - about 0.4% of total for a recent project I looked at. Admittedly, this was in Australia, but given that solar power stations cost circa $0.5 million per hectare in equipment and installation, land (rural land of course) would need to be pretty expensive before it became a significant factor.
- beautifulfreak 7y ago
  Algal slime, barnacles and mollusks too. Actually, the slime might be useful in methanol production. It grows amazingly fast.
lscharen 7y ago
Also, they talk about methanol production, but if they are already going through the work of desalination, it would probably make sense to have an integrated processing facility to also extract products that are already commercially extracted from seawater (bromine and manganese) Perhaps it’s feasible that other trace elements in seawater, e.g. gold, uranium, etc. could also be economically extracted...
- infogulch 7y ago
  Not to mention all the pure oxygen you get out of electrolysis. It seems this system would produce a lot of potentially useful byproducts that could have a big effect on ROI calculations.
SCAQTony 7y ago
I could only see this working in a safe harbor or a port. The ocean is not a serene place for a floating platform unless the platform is elevated above potential water lines such as a wind turbine or offshore oil rig.

bsder 7y ago

> What's not to like? Salt. Salt makes operating things in the seas an absolute maintenance nightmare.

D_Alex 7y ago
Oh, yesss. Also, bird poop. Seriously - it is already a problem for solar cells on unmanned offshore oil and gas platforms.
- credit_guy 7y ago
  If this was completely without any obstacles, it would have been brought to market about 50 years ago. There are obstacles for sure, but they don't sound insurmountable to me. Salt. Salt is a problem for anything that floats on the ocean. Plenty of things do that, it's not such a deal breaker. Bird poop. You need to either be close to some islands, or in the middle of some migration line. In the Pacific ocean there are millions of square miles that don't qualify for either of that. Barnacles, mollusks, etc. Maybe you can get away with some special paints, or with periodic cleanup. Mauybe you need to coat the bottom of the floating structure with some film of pesticide-infused plastic. I don't know. But I'm willing to give this idea a chance to succeed. What are the alternatives? Floating nuclear power plants?
  - D_Alex 7y ago
    >What are the alternatives? This is exactly the right question. Assuming that the goal is a reduction in atmospheric CO2, there are many alternatives that are at least an order of magnitude more cost-effective. Of those, more land based wind and solar plants are for now the best. The cost of land generally is almost negligibly small - about 0.4% of total for a recent project I looked at. Admittedly, this was in Australia, but given that solar power stations cost circa $0.5 million per hectare in equipment and installation, land (rural land of course) would need to be pretty expensive before it became a significant factor.
beautifulfreak 7y ago
Algal slime, barnacles and mollusks too. Actually, the slime might be useful in methanol production. It grows amazingly fast.

lscharen 7y ago

Also, they talk about methanol production, but if they are already going through the work of desalination, it would probably make sense to have an integrated processing facility to also extract products that are already commercially extracted from seawater (bromine and manganese) Perhaps it’s feasible that other trace elements in seawater, e.g. gold, uranium, etc. could also be economically extracted...

infogulch 7y ago
Not to mention all the pure oxygen you get out of electrolysis. It seems this system would produce a lot of potentially useful byproducts that could have a big effect on ROI calculations.

SCAQTony 7y ago

I could only see this working in a safe harbor or a port. The ocean is not a serene place for a floating platform unless the platform is elevated above potential water lines such as a wind turbine or offshore oil rig.