The myth about baseload power is always used to attack solar electricity, which of course is only available during daylight hours. This myth is based on misconceptions.

Firstly, not all forms of electricity generation are required to supply baseload and there is a very valuable place for technologies that can supply power during the day when the demand for electricity is greater than overnight.

Secondly, the rapid advancement in solar thermal electricity generation, producing steam to drive a turbine and generator, can be easily combined with geothermal energy (hot rocks) which can produce steam day and night.

Australia, USA, Spain, South Africa, Israel and other countries are very well placed to deploy these technologies because they have many locations where power grids run through very sunny inland where geothermal energy exists. Australia is a particularly good example of this.

Thirdly, should it be considered necessary for solar energy to be available overnight, there are now very good prospects for the commercialisation of several different energy storage technologies that will make this possible.

These include vanadium redox and inc-bromine batteries, both of which are being developed in Australia and elsewhere. And sometimes as is the case with Australia there is government financial support for demonstration installations.

In summary, an electricity system that uses a mix of different renewable technologies such as geothermal, wind and wave power along with some energy storage and a good geographical dispersion of solar thermal energy generation, will have just as much ability to supply reliable baseload power as the current coal based generation system.

One should just remember, in less than an hour every day the sun produces more energy than we all need globally in a year. We just need to capture some of it. 1% will more than suffice to meet our current and future world needs.

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