Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Coal vs Solar

Sometimes only a picture will do the job:

This is a satellite view of the AES coal and solar facilities in Guayama Puerto Rico. Other than caption and outlines, it is unretouched.

The solar plant is rated at 20MW but that means 20MW for the few minutes per day when the sun is in the optimal position. The rest of the day it is less, especially on cloudy days. At night, of course, it is zero. Actual average output, calculated from the amount of energy sold by AES to PREPA over several years, is between 4 and 5MW. This power is non-dispatchable and somewhat random as well.

Batteries will eventually help smooth out the randomness and bring some degree of dispatchability. That will add to the usability but will not do anything to significantly increase the total power generated. 

The coal plant, on the other hand is rated at 454MW. That means it can run for extended periods of time, if needed at 454MW subject only to fuel availability. They keep 60-90 days supply on hand.

Eyeballing the two, it looks like the coal plant, with 100 times the capacity, occupies about the same amount of land as the solar plant.

Our very own Prince of Darkness has decreed that we will eventually have 25% of our total power. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.

By way of comparison, this is what a 4MW, truck mountable, diesel generator looks like:





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