First Solar opens largest California solar power station

[wpsedgwick]

Source: Green Technology Daily

Solar module maker First Solar on Monday opened the largest photovoltaic solar power station in California, which the company plans to replicate in order to expand its utility business.

The plant in Blythe, Calif., which First Solar purchased from energy developer NRG, will have the capacity to generate 21 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power about 17,000 homes. It will supply electricity to Southern California Edison under a 20-year purchase power agreement.

It's one of a number of projects that First Solar is pursuing as it seeks to expand in the utility-scale solar business.


Read more: http://www.greentechnologydaily.com/solar-wind/562-first-solar-opens-largest-california-solar-power-station

[WriteDown]

1. Hold on a sec...

If the plant is open what is all this "will" and "can" stuff. Shouldn't it already be generating 21 megawatts if its open?

[Beavker]

2. Overcast and rainy weather?

It has the capacity to do that. Maybe it's not doing that yet, as the days are shorter in the winter months and it's been overcast lately?

[sudopod]

3. Testing

21 MW isn't a nuclear power plant, but it's enough to fry plenty of stuff in a switchyard if it isn't properly configured.

[WriteDown]

4. I wouldn't say it's "open" yet then.

:shrug:

[SpiralHawk]

5. But then again, it's not 'closed' either

It is in the Place In Between.

[silverweb]

6. So?

Is calling it a "phased-in opening" better?

:eyes:

[WriteDown]

7. I hear about all these openings....

but I never see any power from these places. I'm just anxious.

[silverweb]

10. Maybe because "openings" are news...

...but ordinary, day-to-day operations after opening aren't?

I'm anxious, too. :pals:

I've never actually followed up on opening stories to see which ones become successful and which don't. I'll bet that would be a very interesting study.

[sudopod]

15. nm

[OnlinePoker]

9. 21 MW is the capacity reported by the company

Just because a solar plant is rated at 21 MW, it is unlikely it will ever actually reach this capacity. It would have to have perfect laboratory conditions for this to happen and that is unlikely. The solar system mounted on top of the Google Headquarters, for instance, is rated at 1.6 MW, but, before it's monitoring system stopped working earlier this year, it had only produced 6055 MWH of electricity, a far cry from the 14000 MWH the system was rated for (assuming 12 hours of daylight x 2 years x 1.6 MW). This is still nothing to sneeze at, but I have the same problem with solar capacity as I do with wind capacity when reported in the media...the company nameplate capacity claims have to be taken with a huge grain of salt. What I would like to see, with all of these alternative energy plants is a live feed of how much power is actually being generated. This way we could get a realistic appreciation for what percentage of the nameplate capacity is actually produced over the long term.

[JDPriestly]

13. Why not build the solar capacity in southern California where you

can almost (or maybe actually) count overcast and rainy days on the fingers of your hands. We have about as close to sunshine all the time as you can get without living in the Sahara. Why put a solar energy facility in the Bay area? It makes utterly no sense. Google is welcome to put whatever it wants on top of my house. I think I'll call my friend whose son works at Google and make an offer.

[NickB79]

8. No information on how much it cost to build

Which is important because, to scale something like this up to replace just one large coal-fired plant, we'd need to build 45 more solar stations.

Of course, that wouldn't be a problem if we subsidized solar panels rather than bombs :grr:

[boomerbust]

11. They sell the power to

Southern California Edison? They take a fair cut also from any savings.

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended, keep them coming.

Thanks for the thread, wpsedgwick.:thumbsup:

[boppers]

14. Blythe? That's practically Arizona.

Good place to site it, I suppose. Lots of light, and in the middle of nowhere... cheap land.