diy solar

diy solar

Solar Neighborhood

svetz

Works in theory! Practice? That's something else
Joined
Sep 20, 2019
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Key Largo

A thread to talk about nearby solar projects​

There's been some recent discussion of a variety of solar farms:

It got me to wondering was going on nearby and was hoping folks would share projects in there local areas. Here's some maps showing a time shift from just 5 years ago for projects:
2015 map2020 Map
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Images are hyperlinks to sources.
 
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Florida Keys​

In the Florida Keys the local utility FKEC (Florida Keys Electric Cooperative) gets nearly 100% of the power from the mainland, although there are still one or two emergency diesel generators. There is one highway that runs the length of the keys, and FKEC is amazingly good at keeping things going on the 138 kV transmission line and >800 miles of local transmission despite the frequent storms. They are quite green, with a biodiesel truck fleet.

April-drone-web.jpg


In addition to solar net metering agreements with home owners like me, FKEC has two Solar projects:
  • The 96.6kW Marathon array consists of 552 separate 175-watt solar modules.
  • The 21 kW Crawl Key Substation:
SolarAbove.jpg

Marathon was installed in 2008, and Crawl key was installed around 2010.

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Comparing their 10+ year degraded output to the 1 yr degradation on my roof for January:
ArrayProducedSizeProduced / Size
Mine8297.82106
Marathon716196.674
Crawl Key16942181

From datasheet estimations, in ten years mine will probably be around a factor of 95, so the delta is probably due tech innovations over the last decade and things like the high efficiency Enphase microinverters!

So, we're small and land limited; but while AFAIK FKEC doesn't have any new energy production projects, I believe they are interested. The FKEC folks I've talked to where knowledgeable and very friendly. Who knows, perhaps they'll apply for $10M under H.R.448 (Energy Resilient Communities Act) for some tidal energy, a Magnus Effect wind turbine that can operate in a hurricane, local energy storage, or a floating solar farm where the shade makes for some great fishing!
 
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Topaz Solar Farm​

Halfway between LA and San Jose on 6,000 acres lies the Topaz Solar Farm, which is currently the 2nd largest Solar farm in the U.S. Completed in 2014, the 550 MW project includes 9 million CdTe photovoltaic modules based on thin-film technology, costing 2.5 Billion ($4.54/W).
Topaz_Solar_Farm%2C_California_Valley.jpg

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The project uses photovoltaic modules that are mounted at a 25 degree angle, capturing maximum sun
exposure. The tallest component of the array and mounting structure is typically 5.5 feet above grade. Situated
on nonprime agricultural land, animals can graze throughout the project footprint within wildlife movement
corridors. The movement corridors support Pronghorn Antelope and Tule Elk.
topaz_sheep.jpg
 
Progress. I drive around Charlotte all the time... I see the massive amount of storage buildings... that would be great for solar farm locations...
 
Progress. I drive around Charlotte all the time...
I was surprised by the number of projects going on in North Carolina even as far back as 2015 (see map in OP) , you all rock!
Neither map even shows our pint-sized local farms. ;-)
 
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Yeah, there are several companies pushing solar actively here.
NC fully supports grid tie, and has a lot of programs for solar rebates.
A lot of companies are selling installs free, and taking the power bill as payment...
 
I don't suppose you all are leading the nation with energy storage too?
No idea on that one.
I do know we have several nuclear plants in the area... and a ton of hydro on the Catawba river basin...
 
No idea on that one.
I do know we have several nuclear plants in the area... and a ton of hydro on the Catawba river basin...
Just a built an interactive map (will post shortly), but looks like you're fairly progressive:

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EBCE, our community energy supplier, has these various ~100MW projects ongoing, since they were just established a couple years ago. The first one came online 2 months ago. They are not particularly "local" except the Alameda one, as our community builds solar farms 250 miles south in Bakersfield, CA / Fresno, CA where land is cheap and the weather is sunnier.

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Of course PG&E charges everyone leaving their production network a Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA), basically a fee paid to PG&E for the privilege of no longer being their customer when they have built their production infrastructure under that assumption. EBCE's energy purchase prices (soon to be their own production prices once this capacity comes online) are low enough that we are in fact indifferent. In other words, it's the same price, including the fee. That's disappointing but hopefully will get rectified or phased out in the future.
 
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Spotsylvania Solar: 617 MW of Solar Energy in Virginia​

ref
Spotsylvania Solar is currently the largest solar farm east of the Rockies. It is comprised of four solar projects — Pleinmont 1, Pleinmont 2, Richmond, and Highlander — totaling 617 MWdc. The project sites, located in Spotsylvania, VA encompass approximately 6,350 acres, of which 3,500 acres will be developed into the solar project, with at least 2,000 acres being preserved as undeveloped, conserved land.

During the height of construction, over 800 jobs will be created in the local community. Once completed, the Spotsylvania Solar project is expected to generate enough power to supply the equivalent of approximately 111,000 homes and offset 340,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
gallery-1.jpeg
 
Isn't Babcock Ranch building a solar community?
Yep, they even have their own wikipedia page! I don't know anything about them, but it's never stopped me before!

An on-site 75-megawatt solar photovoltaic array broke ground in 2016 by Florida Power & Light Company, which will combine with a network of solar rooftop arrays on commercial buildings to generate more energy than the city consumes, making Babcock Ranch the first solar-powered city in the United States. "Let it Shine" author John Purlin stated Davis, California claimed to be the first solar powered city in 1984.

shutterstock_764274979.jpg
FPL plans to develop 50 MW of battery storage over the next few years. Wonder who's batteries those are in freight containers?
When I first saw them I thought it might be a molten metal battery.
 
Pidgeon Key Goes Solar!

For years the historical island of Pigeon Key has met all its electrical needs through a set of large, labor intensive diesel generators. The site of a popular summertime marine biology camp, the island’s organizers were always unhappy with their reliance on burning fossil fuels when one of their primary missions was making sure the beautiful ecosystem in their Keys home was as pristine and healthy as possible. [ref]

24 kW array (96 x 250W panels) with no storage. It's an elevated ground mount, possibly parking underneath? Looks like they could have gone bifacial (but didn't). The project was outrageously expensive, most likely because they ran a utility grid line too. Looks like this one was seriously mismanaged.
 
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