11 MW PV Solar Tracking Plant Dedicated

GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) and Catavento dedicated the 11-megawatt Serpa solar power plant on March 28, on schedule.

GE Energy Financial Services financed and purchased the project in an approximately US $75 million transaction last year. PowerLight designed, deployed, operates and maintains the plant. The plant uses PowerLight's PowerTracker(R) system that follows the sun's daily path across the sky to generate more electricity than conventional fixed-mounted systems. Catavento did the project development, permitting and manages the project, which began feeding Portugal's electricity grid in late January.

Construction of the Serpa project began in June 2006 and was completed, as planned, in January 2007. The facility consists of a ground-mounted solar tracking photovoltaic system that uses silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into energy. The Serpa solar power plant incorporates photovoltaic modules from SunPower, Sanyo, Sharp and Suntech.

The plant is on a 60-hectare (150-acre) hillside, equivalent to the area of more than 80 football fields. The panels are 2 meters off the ground enough for sheep to graze underneath, and the Serpa park will double as pasture for livestock.

According to the MIT Technology Review the plant is designed to operate with no staff on site. Rain will wash the panels occasionally. PowerLight and General Electric will monitor the output of groups of panels over the Internet; PowerLight will dispatch technicians as needed for repairs and once a year for preventive maintenance.

Comments

[DavidJ]

Solar cells produce more electricity per hectare than biocrops but they also absorb more light and I guess heat. How much does this decrease in albedo affect global warming?

[GreyFlcn]

Uhm, nah. Solar cells increase the albedo.

However when I look at this, I kinda fell like it's a waste compared to solar concentrators.

;D

[brian hans]

Im curious what the total amount for the project was? If it was only 75mil (i doubt);

75m x 11MW = $6.8m/MW. It seems that there are much less expensive ways of producing the kinda KWH's that this 11MW system of solar panels would. I would be curious to read the 3rd - 5th year report on what the actual # of KWH's produced. I'll take a guess that its less than 25m KWH's/yr. 75/20yrs life (doubt it)x 25m/KWH = $.15/KWH.

Wind and wave are so much more diserving of 75m than is solar. IMO, this is a waste of $$$, Im starting to sniff the smell of hystaria in the air.

David. Given the fact that this array (or even all the solar presently x 10) takes up an speck of an insignificant amount of space on the surface of this planet, my guess is virtually nill.

Cheers

[Kit P.]

You are never going to see a report on the performance of solar PV. Installation is good PR. It is about marketing, not making electricity.

[used computers]

The facility consists of a ground-mounted solar tracking photovoltaic system that uses silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into energy.

[ティファニー 激安]

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[gn netcom headset]

I will always read these articles. Please guys keep the comments relevant.

[airheat pumps]

It's awesome that they have prepared a huge place for this. It just means that they are taking this renewable energy thing seriously.

[plumbing]

I think this is a brilliant project so far. It makes me wonder on how the company will resolve the coordination problem that may arise.