Reichert, John 2009-11-17
Dr. John Reichert talks about his career and involvement with the Texas Tech Electrical Engineering Department. Much of the interview discusses his involvement with the Crosbyton Solar Power Project, his removal from the project and the aftermath of the project’s demise
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: John Reichert
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 17, 2009
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 06:23:17
Abstract
8 volumes of government reports for the Crosbyton Solar Project, printing of the reports and how they were written up, mentions Nolan Barrett, TJ Taylor, both deceased, Mayor Wit and Jim Bob Reynolds, Grew up in Cameron, Texas, His dad was a newspaper editor in Cameron and he grew up in print shop, Why he felt qualified to write the text, Mentions TTU faculty and students involved in the project, Yudi Gupta from E-Systems, Aidan Mynell (sp?) gave talk about solar farms and using a parabolic design which caught Reichert’s interest, Factor 10 and mistakes in other solar power projects, including Aidan’s and Solar King’s, Planned to use the Water Gash Shift Reaction for fuel converstion and explains the process, Hired student Bob Gross to study reactions to find endothermic energy storage schemes, Secret project at Tucumari to produce electricity to hydrolize water, Learned from CSPP not to put a solar plant into production making electricity without a backup; you have to control the backup yourself, Raves about TTU electrical engineering faculty and students at the time the CSPP, Department got more funding that UT and Texas A&M’s, EE departments, and that figure did not even include the 11 million for CSPP, “Lost on the Network” power generation, Design verification level –not big enough to help, not enough to destroy, making kilowatts, Black outs/brown outs and how electrical power plant grids are run, Ed O’Hair and how military personnel are trained to rotate positions, How Reichert worked with other faculty on the project, Wind power versus solar power and need for backing up these plants with traditional fossil fuel plants and fines for blackouts, Boone Pickens presentation to large audience at convention center, Reichert’s objection to Pickens’s plan, Back to Water Gash Shift Reaction and Aidan’s giving up on the solar farm concept, E-System and Richard Nixon’s grudge against Jimmy Ling, John Dixon, Ed O’Hair’s preference for wind, DOE opposition to a hybrid system which would not be comparable against other solar stand alone plants such as the Barstow plant
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