Sun power, the new oil

Mohan Murti

Last weekend, my wife and I travelled the 8 degree longitude and experienced a wide
variety of climate zones along the way, in a single day. Yes, this was a preview. We were
invited to a kilometre-long trip around the world at the Klimahaus (Climate House), a
new 18,000-sq.m museum in north Germany’s port town of Bremerhaven that has turned
the world’s climate zones into a truly memorable experience.

The journey began in Bremerhaven, where the 8 degrees longitude runs directly through
the Klimahaus. In the museum, we left the city on train tracks. Over to a Swiss mountain
farm, which is threatened by melting glaciers, and through a Sardinian meadow to the
Nigerian desert, the tropical climate in the Cameroon jungle with 80 per cent humidity
and temperature of 30 degrees Celsius leading on with a few metres walk into sub-zero
temperatures and the ice sheets of Antarctica. Before we froze, we moved on to the
coastline of Samoa where the villagers have fled from the rising sea level. The trip then
moves on to Alaska. Space is limited at the Klimahaus, but it still captures the feeling of
endlessness in the tundra.

The Klimahaus is not only a spectacle but a wonderful experience for anyone who wants
to understand climate and how it is changing. That is the German way of creating
awareness of climate change. Now, how do Germans respond to the threats of climate
change?

Lights on Demand

Innovative and creative thinking have always been the forte of Germans. A recent
example I found was in the village of Doerentrup, about 100 km from Hannover in
Central Germany. This village has patented a new way to cut electricity costs without
leaving its more nocturnal residents in the dark — with street lighting that can be ordered
by phone. Every registered user in the Dial4Light project can light the streets with a
phone call. Within seconds, the lamp switches on. The light lasts for 10-15 minutes and
then automatically shuts off. The service is free, except for any charges for telephone
services.

Innovative Sources

Nuclear power is too hazardous. Coal is too mucky. Gas engages too much dependence
on Russia. So, where is Germany going to get its future power from? Germany is going
into renewable energy in a big way. Apart from wind power, where Germany leads the
world, their vision, which they call Desertec, is to turn desert sun into electricity, thereby
harnessing inexhaustible, clean and affordable energy. And, no other energy source is
available over such a large area.
Every year 630,000 terawatt hours in the form of solar energy falls unused on the deserts
of the states of the Middle East and North Africa. In contrast, Europe consumes just
4,000 terawatt hours of energy a year. Powering Europe from Desertec is low-tech — no
expensive nuclear fusion reactors, no CO{-2}-emittingcoal power plants, no ultra-thin
solar cells.

The principle behind it is curved mirrors known as “parabolic trough collectors” that
collect sunlight. The energy is used to heat water, generating steam, which drives turbines
and generates electricity. That, in a nutshell, is how a solar thermal power plant works.

Energy can be harnessed even at night. Excess heat produced during the day can be
stored for several hours in tanks of molten salt. This way the turbines can produce
electricity even when the sun is not shining.

A Win-Win Situation

Under the plan, the sun-rich states of North Africa and West Asia would build mirror
power plants in the desert and generate electricity. As a side benefit, they could use
residual heat to power seawater desalination plants, which would provide drinking water
in large quantities for the arid countries. At the same time they would obtain a valuable
export product: environmentally friendly electricity. West Asia and North Africa
countries are in a three-way win situation. But Europe also wins: it frees itself from its
dependence on Russian gas, rising oil prices, radioactive waste and CO{-2}-spewing coal
power plants.

Indian Energy Struggle

At a time when countries of Western Europe that have tried and tested expensive and
dangerous nuclear power plants and are switching over and investing in renewable wind
and simple solar radiation technology, India’s generation sector is struggling to grow fast
enough to power the world’s second fastest growing economy.

A tiny fraction of the sun’s energy that shines upon the Thar could meet all of India’s
electricity demands. The technology to harness the energy already exists. So, why is
hardly anyone investing in it?

Lack of Awareness

Unfortunately, there seems a lack of awareness in India about what this technology can
do. When I talk to business leaders in India about solar power, I found that they think of
small solar panels that power homes, agri pumps and street lamps. They do not think of
enormous power plants that can supply enough electricity for the whole of India.

The switch to solar thermal energy is an inescapable necessity for India. Also, with water
shortages in India that would grow in the coming years, future need for water and the
possibility of desalinating sea water with solar thermal-produced energy needs to be
planned.

As for Europeans, they firmly believe that the oil of the 21st century is not buried deep
within the earth. Instead, it falls on its surface — as sunshine. For Europeans, desert
power is not a magic potion but a possible useful floorboard in the new ways of living
that will be needed if the human race is to endure and flourish.

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany.
blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)
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Solar power systems manufacturer SunPower Corp. signed a multiyear solar-panel

manufacturing agreement with Jabil Circuit Inc. to build panels for SunPower's North
American solar market beginning in the second half of 2009, SunPower said June 8.
SunPower and Jabil plan to evaluate establishing panel and system manufacturing
locations in the United States, which would result in the creation of highly skilled jobs,
according to SunPower.
Jabil also will collaborate with SunPower in the company's participation in the Solar
America Initiative, a U.S. Department of Energy effort to accelerate advanced solar
energy technologies development.
"This agreement provides SunPower with the flexibility to site manufacturing near the
largest and fastest growing solar markets in North America, improving the efficiency of
our supply chain," said Marty Neese, SunPower's chief operating officer. "Jabil's
extensive experience in manufacturing and high-quality standards makes them an ideal
partner for producing SunPower's solar panels, the most powerful solar technology on the
planet."

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by
humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation
along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and
biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Only a minuscule
fraction of the available solar energy is used.

Solar power provides electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics.

Once converted, its uses are limited only by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar
applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water
via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and
high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar
depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar
techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors (with
electrical or mechanical equipment) to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar
techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable
thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate
air.

Solar power
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about generation of electricity using solar energy. For other uses of solar
energy, see Solar energy.

The PS10 concentrates sunlight from a field of heliostats on a central tower.

Solar power is by far the Earth's most available energy source, easily capable of
providing many times the total current energy demand. The largest solar power plants,
like the 354 MW SEGS, are concentrating solar thermal plants, but recently multi-
megawatt photovoltaic plants have been built. Completed in 2008, the 46 MW Moura
photovoltaic power station in Portugal and the 40 MW Waldpolenz Solar Park in
Germany are characteristic of the trend toward larger photovoltaic power stations. Much
larger ones are proposed, such as the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm, and the 600 MW
Rancho Cielo Solar Farm. Covering 4% of the world's desert area with photovoltaics
could supply all of the world's electricity. The Gobi Desert alone could supply almost all
of the world's total energy demand.[1]

Solar power is a predictably intermittent energy source, meaning that whilst solar power
is not available at all times, we can predict with a very good degree of accuracy when it
will and wont be available. Some technologies, such as solar thermal concentrators with
an element of thermal storage, have the potential to eliminate the intermittency of solar
power, by storing spare solar power in the form of heat; and using this heat overnight or
during periods that solar power is not available to produce electricity. This technology
has the potential to make solar power "dispatchable", as the heat source can be used to
generate electricity at will. Solar power installations are normally supplemented by
storage or another energy source, for example with wind power and hydropower.

[edit] Applications
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Sunlight can be converted
directly into electricity using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly with concentrating solar
power (CSP), which normally focuses the sun's energy to boil water which is then used to
provide power, and technologies such as the sterling engine dishes which use a sterling
cycle engine to power a generator. Photovoltaics were initially used to power small and
medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid
homes powered by a photovoltaic array.

The only significant problem with solar power is installation cost, although cost has been
decreasing due to the learning curve.[2][3]Developing countries have started to build solar
power plants, replacing other sources of energy generation.[4][5][6]

Since solar power is intermittent, it must be combined either with storage or other energy
sources to provide continuous power, although for small distributed producer/consumers,
net metering makes this transparent to the consumer. A combined power plant has been
demonstrated, using 100% renewable energy.[7]

One fundamental difference between renewable energy and non-renewable energy is that
non-renewable resources can be purchased as they are consumed, whereas with
renewable resources, you pay up front for the next twenty years or so of energy.[8]

[edit] Concentrating solar power

Main article: Concentrating solar power

Solar troughs are the most widely deployed.

A legend claims that Archimedes used polished shields to concentrate sunlight on the
invading Roman fleet and repel them from Syracuse.[9] Auguste Mouchout used a
parabolic trough to produce steam for the first solar steam engine in 1866.[10]

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to
focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a
heat source for a conventional power plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies
exists; the most developed are the parabolic trough, the concentrating linear fresnel
reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. Various techniques are used to track
the Sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the
concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage.[11]

A parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a
receiver positioned along the reflector's focal line. The receiver is a tube positioned right
above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector
is made to follow the Sun during the daylight hours by tracking along a single axis.
Parabolic trough systems provide the best land-use factor of any solar technology.[12] The
SEGS plants in California and Acciona's Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Nevada
are representatives of this technology.[13][14] The Suntrof-Mulk parabolic trough,
developed by Melvin Prueitt, uses a technique inspired by Archimedes' principle to rotate
the mirrors.[15]

Concentrating linear fresnel reflectors are CSP-plants which use many thin mirror strips
instead of parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto two tubes with working fluid.
This has the advantage that flat mirrors can be used which are much cheaper than
parabolic mirrors, and that more reflectors can be placed in the same amount of space,
allowing more of the available sunlight to be used. Concentrating linear fresnel reflectors
can be used in either large or more compact plants.[16][17]

A stirling solar dish, or dish engine system, consists of a stand-alone parabolic reflector
that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned at the reflector's focal point. The
reflector tracks the Sun along two axes. Parabolic dish systems give the highest efficiency
among CSP technologies.[18] The 50 kW Big Dish in Canberra, Australia is an example of
this technology.[13] The stirling solar dish combines a parabolic concentrating dish with a
stirling heat engine which normally drives an electric generator. The advantages of
stirling solar over photovoltaic cells are higher efficiency of converting sunlight into
electricity and longer lifetime.

A solar power tower uses an array of tracking reflectors (heliostats) to concentrate light
on a central receiver atop a tower. Power towers are more cost effective, offer higher
efficiency and better energy storage capability among CSP technologies.[13] The Solar
Two in Barstow, California and the Planta Solar 10 in Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain are
representatives of this technology.[13][19]

[edit] Photovoltaics
Main article: Photovoltaics

11 MW Serpa solar power plant in Portugal

A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into electric current
using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the
1880s.[20] Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light
into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the
importance of this discovery.[21] Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s,
researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell
in 1954.[22] These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.5–6%.
[23]

Solar power has great potential, but in 2008 supplied less than 0.02% of the world's total
energy supply. There are many competing technologies, including fourteen types of
photovoltaic cells, such as thin film, monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, and
amorphous cells, as well as multiple types of concentrating solar power. It is too early to
know which technology will become dominant.[24]

The earliest significant application of solar cells was as a back-up power source to the
Vanguard I satellite in 1958, which allowed it to continue transmitting for over a year
after its chemical battery was exhausted.[25] The successful operation of solar cells on this
mission was duplicated in many other Soviet and American satellites, and by the late
1960s, PV had become the established source of power for them.[26] Photovoltaics went
on to play an essential part in the success of early commercial satellites such as Telstar,
and they remain vital to the telecommunications infrastructure today.[27]
The high cost of solar cells limited terrestrial uses throughout the 1960s. This changed in
the early 1970s when prices reached levels that made PV generation competitive in
remote areas without grid access. Early terrestrial uses included powering
telecommunication stations, off-shore oil rigs, navigational buoys and railroad crossings.
[28]
These off-grid applications accounted for over half of worldwide installed capacity
until 2004.[29]

Building-integrated photovoltaics cover the roofs of an increasing number of homes.

The 1973 oil crisis stimulated a rapid rise in the production of PV during the 1970s and
early 1980s.[30] Economies of scale which resulted from increasing production along with
improvements in system performance brought the price of PV down from 100 USD/watt
in 1971 to 7 USD/watt in 1985.[31] Steadily falling oil prices during the early 1980s led to
a reduction in funding for photovoltaic R&D and a discontinuation of the tax credits
associated with the Energy Tax Act of 1978. These factors moderated growth to
approximately 15% per year from 1984 through 1996.[32]

Since the mid-1990s, leadership in the PV sector has shifted from the US to Japan and
Europe. Between 1992 and 1994 Japan increased R&D funding, established net metering
guidelines, and introduced a subsidy program to encourage the installation of residential
PV systems.[33] As a result, PV installations in the country climbed from 31.2 MW in
1994 to 318 MW in 1999,[34] and worldwide production growth increased to 30% in the
late 1990s.[35]

Germany became the leading PV market worldwide since revising its Feed-in tariff
system as part of the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Installed PV capacity has risen
from 100 MW in 2000 to approximately 4,150 MW at the end of 2007.[36][37] After 2007,
Spain became the largest PV market after adopting a similar feed-in tariff structure in
2004, installing almost half of the photovoltaics (45%) in the world, in 2008, while
France, Italy, South Korea and the U.S. have seen rapid growth recently due to various
incentive programs and local market conditions.[38] The power output of domestic
photovoltaic devices is usually described in kilowatt-peak (kWp) units, as most are from
1 to 10 kW.[39]

Concentrating photovoltaics are another new method of electricity generation from the
sun. Concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) systems employ sunlight concentrated onto
photovoltaic surfaces for the purpose of electrical power production. Solar concentrators
of all varieties may be used, and these are often mounted on a solar tracker in order to
keep the focal point upon the cell as the Sun moves across the sky. Tracking is not
required for concentrations of less than 2 to 5, but does increase flat panel photovoltaic
output by up to 20% in winter, and up to 50% in summer.[40]

[edit] Experimental solar power

Main articles: Solar updraft tower, Thermogenerator, Concentrating photovoltaics, and
Space-based solar power

Concentrating photovoltaics in Catalonia, Spain.

A solar updraft tower (also known as a solar chimney or solar tower) consists of a large
greenhouse that funnels into a central tower. As sunlight shines on the greenhouse, the air
inside is heated, and expands. The expanding air flows toward the central tower, where a
turbine converts the air flow into electricity. A 50 kW prototype was constructed in
Ciudad Real, Spain and operated for eight years before decommissioning in 1989.[41]

Thermoelectric, or "thermovoltaic" devices convert a temperature difference between

dissimilar materials into an electric current. First proposed as a method to store solar
energy by solar pioneer Mouchout in the 1800s,[42] thermoelectrics reemerged in the
Soviet Union during the 1930s. Under the direction of Soviet scientist Abram Ioffe a
concentrating system was used to thermoelectrically generate power for a 1 hp engine.[43]
Thermogenerators were later used in the US space program as an energy conversion
technology for powering deep space missions such as Cassini, Galileo and Viking.
Research in this area is focused on raising the efficiency of these devices from 7–8% to
15–20%.[44]

Finally, Space-based solar power is a theoretical design for the collection of solar power
in space, for use on Earth. SBSP differs from the usual method of solar power collection
in that the solar panels used to collect the energy would reside on a satellite in orbit, often
referred to as a solar power satellite (SPS), rather than on Earth's surface. In space,
collection of the Sun's energy is unaffected by the day/night cycle, weather, seasons, or
the filtering effect of Earth's atmospheric gases. Average solar energy per unit area
outside Earth's atmosphere is on the order of ten times that available on Earth's surface.
However, there is no shortage of energy reaching the surface. The amount of solar energy
reaching the surface of the planet each year is about twice the amount of energy that will
be obtained forever from coal, oil, natural gas, and mined Uranium, combined, even
using breeder reactors.[45]
[edit] Development, deployment and economics
Main article: Deployment of solar power to energy grids

Nellis Solar Power Plant, the largest photovoltaic power plant in North America

Beginning with the surge in coal use which accompanied the Industrial Revolution,
energy consumption has steadily transitioned from wood and biomass to fossil fuels. The
early development of solar technologies starting in the 1860s was driven by an
expectation that coal would soon become scarce. However development of solar
technologies stagnated in the early 20th century in the face of the increasing availability,
economy, and utility of coal and petroleum.[46]

The 1973 oil embargo and 1979 energy crisis caused a reorganization of energy policies
around the world and brought renewed attention to developing solar technologies.[47][48]
Deployment strategies focused on incentive programs such as the Federal Photovoltaic
Utilization Program in the US and the Sunshine Program in Japan. Other efforts included
the formation of research facilities in the US (SERI, now NREL), Japan (NEDO), and
Germany (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE).[49]

Between 1970 and 1983 photovoltaic installations grew rapidly, but falling oil prices in
the early 1980s moderated the growth of PV from 1984 to 1996. Since 1997, PV
development has accelerated due to supply issues with oil and natural gas, global
warming concerns (see Kyoto Protocol), and the improving economic position of PV
relative to other energy technologies.[50] Photovoltaic production growth has averaged
40% per year since 2000 and installed capacity reached 10.6 GW at the end of 2007,[29]
and 14.73 GW in 2008.[51] Since 2006 it has been economical for investors to install
photovoltaics for free in return for a long term power purchase agreement. 50% of
commercial systems were installed in this manner in 2007 and it is expected that 90%
will by 2009.[52] Nellis Air Force Base is receiving photoelectric power for about
2.2 ¢/kWh and grid power for 9 ¢/kWh.[53][54]

Commercial concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) plants were first developed in the
1980s. CSP plants such as SEGS project in the United States have a levelized energy cost
(LEC) of 12–14 ¢/kWh.[55] The 11 MW PS10 power tower in Spain, completed in late
2005, is Europe's first commercial CSP system, and a total capacity of 300 MW is
expected to be installed in the same area by 2013.[56]

Largest Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Stations

Capacity Technology
Name Country Location Notes
(MW) type
Solar Energy
parabolic Mojave desert Collection of 9
354 Generating USA
trough California units
Systems
parabolic Las Vegas,
64 Nevada Solar One USA
trough Nevada
Completed
parabolic
50 Andasol 1 Spain Granada November
trough
2008
solar power PS20 solar power Completed
20 Spain Seville
tower tower April 2009
Europe's first
solar power PS10 solar power
11 Spain Seville commercial
tower tower
solar tower

Average insolation showing land area (small black dots) required to replace the world
primary energy supply with solar electricity. 18 TW is 568 Exajoule (EJ) per year.
Insolation for most people is from 150 to 300 W/m² or 3.5 to 7.0 kWh/m²/day.

Solar installations in recent years have also largely begun to expand into residential areas,
with governments offering incentive programs to make "green" energy a more
economically viable option. In Canada the RESOP (Renewable Energy Standard Offer
Program), introduced in 2006,[57] and updated in 2009 with the passage of the Green
Energy Act, allows residential homeowners in Ontario with solar panel installations to
sell the energy they produce back to the grid (i.e., the government) at 42¢/kWh, while
drawing power from the grid at an average rate of 6¢/kWh (see feed-in tariff).[58] The
program is designed to help promote the government's green agenda and lower the strain
often placed on the energy grid at peak hours. In March, 2009 the proposed FIT was
increased to 80¢/kWh for small, roof-top systems (≤10 kW).[59]

Photovoltaics are 85 times as efficient as growing corn for ethanol. On a 300 feet (91 m)
by 300 feet (1 hectare) plot of land enough ethanol can be produced to drive a car
30,000 miles (48,000 km) per year or 2,500,000 miles (4,020,000 km) by covering the
same land with photo cells. The deserts of the South Western United States could
produce sufficient electricity to fulfill all of the electrical needs of the United States, and
could use electrolysis to produce Hydrogen from water to power aircraft.[60]
 World's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants[61]
DC
Name of PV power Peak GW·h Capacity
Country Notes
plant Power /year factor
(MW)
Olmedilla Completed September
Spain 60 85 0.16
Photovoltaic Park 2008
Puertollano
Spain 50 2008
Photovoltaic Park
Moura photovoltaic Completed December
[62] Portugal 46 93 0.16
power station 2008
550,000 First Solar thin-
Waldpolenz Solar film CdTe modules.
Germany 40 40 0.11
Park[63] [64] Completed December
2008
Arnedo Solar Plant Spain 34 Completed October 2008
Merida/Don Alvaro Completed September
Spain 30
Solar Park 2008
Planta Solar La
Magascona & La Spain 30
Magasquila
Planta Solar Ose de
Spain 30
la Vega
Planta Fotovoltaico
Spain 28
Casas de Los Pinos
SinAn power plant Korea 24 33 Completed October 2008

The annual International Conference on Solar Photovoltaic Investments, organized by

EPIA notes that photovoltaics provides a secure, reliable return on investment, with
modules typically lasting 25 to 40 years and with a payback on investment of between 8
to 12 years.[65]

Each of these financial incentives is aimed at increasing demand for solar photovoltaics
such that they can become competitive with conventional methods of energy production.
Another innovative way to increase demand is to harness the green purchasing power of
academic institutions (universities and colleges). This has been shown to be potentially
quite influential in catalyzing a positive spiral-effect in renewables globally[66].

[edit] Energy storage methods

Main articles: Grid energy storage and V2G
This energy park in Geesthacht, Germany, includes solar panels and pumped-storage
hydroelectricity.

Seasonal variation of the output of the solar panels at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Solar energy is not available at night, making energy storage an important issue in order
to provide the continuous availability of energy.[67] Both wind power and solar power are
intermittent energy sources, meaning that all available output must be taken when it is
available and either stored for when it can be used, or transported, over transmission
lines, to where it can be used. Wind power and solar power tend to be somewhat
complementary, as there tends to be more wind in the winter and more sun in the
summer, but on days with no sun and no wind the difference needs to be made up in
some manner.[68] The Institute for Solar Energy Supply Technology of the University of
Kassel pilot-tested a combined power plant linking solar, wind, biogas and hydrostorage
to provide load-following power around the clock, entirely from renewable sources.[69]

Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using molten salts. Salts are an effective
storage medium because they are low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can
deliver heat at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems. The Solar Two
used this method of energy storage, allowing it to store enough heat in its 68 m³ storage
tank to provide full output of 10 MWe for about 40 minutes, with an efficiency of about
99%.[70]

Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable batteries to store excess

electricity. With grid-tied systems, excess electricity can be sent to the transmission grid.
Net metering programs give these systems a credit for the electricity they deliver to the
grid. This credit offsets electricity provided from the grid when the system cannot meet
demand, effectively using the grid as a storage mechanism. Credits are normally rolled
over month to month and any remaining surplus settled annually.[71]
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of water pumped when surplus
electricity is available, from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. The
energy is recovered when demand is high by releasing the water: the pump becomes a
turbine, and the motor a hydroelectric power generator.[72]