A 1000 MWe power plant is being planned for the rapidly expanding city of Las Vegas. Consider three possible options for the plant: nuclear, coal, and solar-fueled. The total system should have a capacity factor of 90%. If the plant is to be an advanced pulverized coal-fired plant with a supercritical water-steam Rankine cycle, what is the average daily amount of coal (in kg/day) consumed to power the plant? Consult the notes from the first lecture (or other sources) for the thermal efficiency of such plants. Assume the combustion of 1 kg of coal provides 27,800 Btu of energy (this is an average value, the real heat of combustion varies with the type of coal). 1 J = 9.48x10^-4 Btu = 0.239 cal. If an advanced solar photovoltaic plant is to be used, with the best available solar flux-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 12%, what is the total land area required to provide the needed power? You may assume that the land needed is 2 times the flat panel area. The daily total (direct and diffuse radiation) solar energy flux near the city of Las Vegas has an annual average of 500 cal/cm^2 per day. Assume that the solar plant will also have to store sufficient energy during the day to meet an equivalent demand at night.
