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  • #1

    Solar Grid projects

    So i noticed something cropping up all around the area when i've been driving recently. A whole lot of solar panels appearing on utility poles...


    ... these looked much too large (and too frequently-occurring) to be related to any power-backup function of equipment on the pole itself. then, when i asked a cop buddy about them, he said "drive down behind the water treatment station on the side of NearbyTown and have a look around"

    i did, and was pretty amazed...


    ... that photo doesn't do it justice. there were huge arrays of solar panels back there.

    signs near them showed the following info...




    ... so that's where some of the Hope Dollars are being spent. well, at least this seems to be a project that will help de-centralize the grid somewhat (i'm told that's what the pole-based panels along roads are... they're part of redundancy, load balancing, and overall distribution of the grid) and make it more resistant to single-point failures.

    or will it? what are your thoughts on power of this nature? (Streaker, i'm looking in your direction, heh)
    "I'll admit I had an OiNK account and frequented it quite often… What made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store… iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up. I feel like I'm being hustled when I visit there, and I don't think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc... OiNK it existed because it filled a void of what people want."
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  • #2
    Re: Solar Grid projects

    Originally posted by Deviant Ollam View Post

    or will it? what are your thoughts on power of this nature? (Streaker, i'm looking in your direction, heh)
    I was going to reply to this thread before I read this line, it did make me chuckle to see it.

    We were approached by a company about 2 weeks ago to discuss the possibility of putting an array on our property near our plant. I'm not sure that it is financially advantageous to us at this point since the company would retain ownership of the array, but supply us with a percentage of the power it generates.

    They approached us because we happen to own about 300 acres of farmland and our plant only sits on about 20. They figured that since we're not using it, it would made a good spot for an array. Problem is, I think the farmland should be used as farmland and not be taken up by an array. I also don't think the residents of the area would like it either.

    The issue that I see with solar power is sudden high demand. Since the arrays generate DC, it would then need to be converted to AC for us to use it in the areas that it would be best to offset our current usage. I'm not up on all the recent high voltage/current equipment, but I think the supporting gear we would need to to convert the DC to AC would be rather cost prohibitive.

    Just for example, we have 3 450HP blowers, that when one of them starts during a peak time we'll see a $2000 surcharge on our bill because the power company can easily see when these things startup. I know that they're running on 480V 3phase and I think around 2000A. That's a lot of power that the array would need to convert from DC to AC. I'd rather see a system that generates AC directly and not have to lose efficiency due to the conversion of DC to AC.

    Even if we didn't convert it to run that big stuff like that, but just used it to run interior lighting and such, the cost associated with segregating the power feeds from the main switchgear would probably be cost prohibitive to us. Since that would entail automatic switchover gear in case the array wasn't accessible as well pulling new feed lines and new breaker panels.

    We have been exploring other methods of being our own Co-Gen site. There's a company that has made a methane generator specifically for our industry, but it requires more solids than we currently generate, so we've been looking into a way to bring in more solids from other areas. A Co-Gen site with one of these would produce about 1.5MW which is enough to run our entire plant as well as supply some back to the grid, and it would be more reliable since it isn't depending upon a sunny day.

    Personally, what I would like to see more of in the way of solar power is the "Solar Power Tower". I believe the efficiency is higher than the current direct to electricity panels, but their danger is a bit higher because of the molten salt. I think these kinds of generators are based more upon tried and true methods of generating electricity, it's just a different way of making steam.
    A third party security audit is the IT equivalent of a colonoscopy. It's long, intrusive, very uncomfortable, and when it's done, you'll have seen things you really didn't want to see, and you'll never forget that you've had one.

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    • #3
      Re: Solar Grid projects

      Those pole mounted solar panels are generally just for powering the street light and other attached devices. (Telecoms regeneration points, remote power switches, wireless mesh access points)
      I think from the street light perspective they area great idea. Street lights are often gang switched from a centralized (intersection based) control box. So if say the box gets taken out..no street lights for a given area. By decentralizing & networking the street lights you can build in both redundancy & efficiency.
      No my question is why isn't the panel higher up?
      AMFYOYO

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      • #4
        Re: Solar Grid projects

        The issue that I see with solar power is sudden high demand. Since the arrays generate DC, it would then need to be converted to AC for us to use it in the areas that it would be best to offset our current usage. I'm not up on all the recent high voltage/current equipment, but I think the supporting gear we would need to to convert the DC to AC would be rather cost prohibitive.

        Just for example, we have 3 450HP blowers, that when one of them starts during a peak time we'll see a $2000 surcharge on our bill because the power company can easily see when these things startup. I know that they're running on 480V 3phase and I think around 2000A. That's a lot of power that the array would need to convert from DC to AC. I'd rather see a system that generates AC directly and not have to lose efficiency due to the conversion of DC to AC.
        Well, the solar grid is usually used to charge batteries and then you transform the DC to AC just like any UPS. batteries and transformers for 1.6 MW / Blower ... that's costly. specially that you will need to change the batteries every 3 years.

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        • #5
          Re: Solar Grid projects

          those hope dollars are also being spent on data center virtualization projects, hurray environment!
          Network Jesus died for your SYN

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          • #6
            Re: Solar Grid projects

            Originally posted by bjaming View Post
            those hope dollars are also being spent on data center virtualization projects, hurray environment!
            I just had one of my sales reps call me and talk about virtualizing our servers using the line that with the number of servers we could save up to $500/year in cooling costs.

            While we may not be a big shop in regards to servers, 10 total across the entire organization, with most of them in the same room, we are a huge energy consumer because of our other equipment. I tried to explain to her that we would never even see a $500/year drop in our electricity bill, considering yearly we spend about $750K.

            So for me, in the regards to savings on cooling, it would never be worth it.
            A third party security audit is the IT equivalent of a colonoscopy. It's long, intrusive, very uncomfortable, and when it's done, you'll have seen things you really didn't want to see, and you'll never forget that you've had one.

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