<i>The project, which cost a total of $1.8 billion to construct, received a million-dollar loan from the DoE as a part of its “SunShot” initiative (so-named in the spirit of president John F. Kennedy’s “moon shot” program).</i><p>That's generous, getting a loan for a massive 0.056% like that must have been a real boost. Also: wut?
Mankinds total energy consumption is on the order of 10^13 , 290 million new power ... about 34500 more of these required. Or to be really blunt: A new plant every day for 100 years.
<i>There are extra panels built into the site, so “when the plant is partially covered by clouds, the control system can actually call upon the portion of the panels that is not impacted” and recruit the extras there to make up the difference.</i><p>I don't understand. Why forego the extra power when there are no clouds?
$1.8B / 5MM = $360 per panel. That includes frames, land, infrastructure and most importantly, connection to the grid, which itself was significantly upgraded in late 1990's early 2000's to support the construction of gas fired turbine facilities (which use ALOT of water for cooling).<p>$360 per panel is very reasonable.<p>With PPG is buying all of its capacity, it appears this is a solution that works.<p>Is my math right tho'? 290MW is roughly 58 Watts per panel. Aren't these things capable of 300+ watts or more?<p>edit: changed $1.6B to $1.8B
Does a large installation of panels like this have a cooling effect on the nearby area? If so I wonder if they could put some wind turbines around the permitter to capture wind energy?
I'll just point out that according to the project's website, it has a capacity factor of 25%, for 71 MW.(Although it's probably much higher during the day, and obviously much lower at night.)<p><a href="http://www.cleanenergyactionproject.com/CleanEnergyActionProject/CS.Agua_Caliente_Solar_Project___Thin_Film_Photovoltaic_Solar_Power_Case_Studies.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.cleanenergyactionproject.com/CleanEnergyActionPro...</a>
"But as solar power becomes cheaper, Davidson predicts that utilities will pass those savings on to consumers."<p>I pretty sure history says this line is false.
I'm curious what kind of maintenance costs and tasks are involved in running a solar plant of this size. Do the panels need replacing much, or cleaning?
"Global climate change is here". I'm confused. "The RSS satellite record shows a zero trend for 210 months". 17 years, 6 months.