diy solar

diy solar

Samson Solar Energy Center

svetz

Works in theory! Practice? That's something else
Joined
Sep 20, 2019
Messages
7,201
Location
Key Largo
I know very little about the Texas based 6,700 acre Samson Solar Energy Center other than it will generate 1.3 GW and be the largest in the U.S. when it's complete in 3 years.

Ran across it today while looking at the Nevada 690 MW Gemini solar Power project on 7100 acres which has 380 MW/1,520 MWh of lithium-ion storage.

Also saw the Nevada Yellow Pine solar project (YPSP), a 500 MW photovoltaic farm on 3,000 acres with 400 MW/1200 MWh of battery energy storage system (lithium ion).

I'm all for solar, but I don't see any energy storage associated with the Samson Solar Energy Center. Hopefully I just missed it.

But if not, is ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) making a mistake? What good does it do to have Solar when you have to keep the fossil fuel plants going? I'm not saying cancel the project, I'm saying add some energy storage! I get in the grand scheme of things that 1.3 GW isn't much for Texas (about the size of two average coal plants), but if they had energy storage that would be two coal plants that could be shutdown. Without storage, those two plants need to still be there, with all their operating costs, and ready to go to pick up the night time slack. That doesn't decrease the cost of energy, it increases it.

What do you all think?
 
Last edited:
Might be a strategic mistake.

Looks like CA is chasing it's solar with storage after the fact:


Maybe TX is doing the same. They're laying the foundation. Then they can come back with another funding request to add storage?
 
Back
Top