31/10/2023
My views on relocating highway Solar
"It's crucial for the president-elect to make decisions rationally, with the greater good of society in mind. While the solar panels do obstruct the view, relocating them to two islands to achieve 100% renewable energy could have the following implications:
- The configuration would be significantly different from what's needed for a typical island, necessitating changes in transformers, inverter numbers, panel mounting structures, and cabling, incurring additional costs.
- Finding suitable land for a typical island to accommodate all the panels (approximately 400,000 square feet for a 2 MW solar installation) could be challenging.To power an island with solar, battery storage would be required.
- Assuming a night time power requirement of 1 MW, the cost of 1 MWh of battery storage can vary from 0.8 to 1 million USD, depending on various factors. To run the system for 16 hours without sunlight, 16 MWh of storage would be needed, costing 16 million USD. It's worth noting that depending 100% on solar may not be feasible due to the presence of cloudy or rainy days throughout the year.
Recommendations
- Consider maintaining the current system for a few years, as there could be significant financial implications in implementing such a change to the agreement with the company.
- Explore the possibility of reaching a mutual agreement to cancel the power purchase agreement and compensate the company for the existing solar setup.
- If the system is to be relocated to two islands, consider installing it in islands with a maximum load of 1 MW. Run the solar system in parallel with the existing power generation setup, utilizing solar energy when sufficient sunlight is available, and implement a 1 MW battery storage system to buffer for any fluctuations. This approach could lead to savings in diesel expenses."
