Solar Power Farms 1

[prc]

Last month in India a 2000 MW solar power farm was commissioned, said to be the largest in the world. This is in Karnataka state where Bangalore is located. Farm covers an area of 13,000 acres and the entire land was leased out from farmers. Farmers claim they get more income from lease rather than actually cultivating the land. So far the largest farm in India was a 648 MW farm, located in Tamilnadu.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Do let us know how well it performs in coming months and years, and tell us when it becomes uneconomical vs. agriculture.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[itsmoked]

Interesting. Dang that's a big one being gigawatts.

Is this a thermal or photoelectric farm?

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[HamburgerHelper]

I wonder if it is counter productive to put that much in one location. If you have it spread out in multiple location over a larger area, you won't have as much volatility in generation.

 

[prc]

These are photovoltaic solar. Probably one advantage is the cost of cleaning the panels from dust. At least in India it is a major cost factor and require water. My home town has an international air port(South India) that is the first green air port in the world as the entire energy requirement is met from the solar farm in their yard. One issue was the wastage of water used for cleaning the panels every week. They found a solution by organic cultivation ( with out chemical fertilizers and chemicals) of vegetables in between the rows of panels!Due to the intense competition, generation cost now quoted for renewable energy is less than 5 cents per unit.

 

[MikeHalloran]

The plants solve the cleaning problem ... how?

Transpiration of whatever water the plants can glean from the soil coalesces on falling temperature and rinses the panels?

The plants grow just tall enough that their leaves wipe the panels in a breeze, but they don't shadow the panels enough to matter?

The people who care for the plants also wipe the panels, since they are out there anyway?

Some other way?



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[prc]

Not exactly. At air port they are only making use of the water going waste after cleaning. With large farms ,they can try to mimimize dust generation, thereby reducing cleaning efforts. Green belts around the farm ,tree barriers etc