Summary of the 1st ERATec Joined Workshop on power for SKA in Moura, Portugal:

The workshop addressed various aspects of power supply for big science projects, i.e. the Square Kilometer Array. In the first session the SKA was compared with other mega science projects discussed in a workshop in Lund, Sweden in October 2011. Power consumption of aperture the aperture array technology was addressed in detail as this is identified as the most power consuming detector technology of SKA. Therefore “green energy” is vital for the acceptance and affordability of the SKA and a demonstrator was presented to show the potential of solar power for such a mega science project. After the first break the process of industry engagement was presented by an SKA project representative. He stressed the importance of industry contribution and showed the way how this is achieved in the project. In the following talks some special issues of SKA were addressed: methods to achieve less power consumption, electromagnetic compatibility of electronics used in power generation and possible grid connections at the South African site. After lunch Michael Kramer gave an overview of the science case of SKA and the relation to green power. He also made a bridge to other mega science projects consuming big amounts of energy. The acceptance of these kinds of projects in the society in the future will strongly depend of their carbon footprint. Examples of green energy in Korea, Portugal and Spain completed this session. In the last session the recently accepted European FP7 project “BIOSTERLING” was presented. Initiated by the Iberian partners and together with the Netherlands and Germany green power concepts based on Sterling generators will be investigated in the next 4 years. As the dedicated site for this and other pathfinder projects the Moura site was presented. A conclusion rounded up the talks of the first day of the workshop. A visit at the LOGICA labs in Moura and a social dinner gave possibility for vivid discussions. The second day was dedicated to visits at two commercial solar power plants: the Moura 45MW Photo Voltaic power plant built and operated by ACCIONE and the 180MW Solucar thermal solar plants near Sevilla (Spain). Both visits gave an interesting insight to the dimension and technical details to solar power generation. In conclusion the workshop was an important event to bring together European players in the widespread topic of green power for SKA. The focus was clearly not restricted to research (i.e. radio astronomy) institutes but has reached important industry partners as well. It was a significant step towards a zero carbon footstep next generation telescope.

Reinhard Keller, Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy, Bonn, GERMANY. Chairman FP7 RadioNet3, ERATec Networking Activity.