Shakespeare Springs Sustained Solar Development Project (Part I)

Shakespeare Springs is a fairy tale--it is a mid-size city on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The City is powered by two coal fired power plants and two modern hydro-generating stations. Here is a plan for it future power needs.

Part 2  http://sundogpt.blogspot.com/2009/08/shakespeare-springs-sustained-solar.html
Part 3  http://sundogpt.blogspot.com/2010/01/four-dominant-factors-that-will-have.html



The sun is shining--shining 1000w/m2 of full sun power on Shakespeare Springs. One large solar photovoltaic array could collect this energy and supply a city’s electric needs. This could be viewed as environmentally friendly; however it would only create another eggs-in-one-basket energy system, requiring many acres of undeveloped land and leaving useless the great generating system that helped build this community.

Still, a Sustained Solar Development Project can give citizen safe, clean and economical electrical generation. Solar development will give value, improve customer relations and contribute to the community

A Utility InterActive PhotoVoltaic solar grid could be built on the many acres on south-facing rooftops on residential and commercial buildings across this city. These systems could be co-owned by Shakespeare Springs Utilities with home and business owners. It has been shown that a residential site UIA PV system will return a minimum of 30% of its daily generation to the grid. (Strong and Scheller 1993). Larger Utility-Scale Photovoltaics can also be part of this distributed system. A Utility-Scale Generating PV station will send all its power to the grid.

Utility Interactive Photovoltaic Systems include panels, inverter, distribution panel and a meter. No batteries needed. The panels and inverter supply and control power to the home. When excess power exists it is sent to the grid. During low sun conditions or during high demand periods grid electricity is taken into the home

A 2.5 kW Utility Interactive Photovoltaic will generate 13 kW a day. During daylight hours, generally peak demand times, the UIA PV system will be putting power on the grid. A common configuration for this machine can consist of 24, 120w PV panels and a 2.5 kW utility interactive inverter. The UI inverter turns the DC voltage of the panel into AC voltage and conditions it to synchronize with and match the power quality of the grid.

A Net Metering device is essential; this allows electricity flowing to and from the grid to be metered. The meter must be able to measure power in and out thus allowing the UIA PV Partner to be paid for the power that is put on the grid. To receive maximum power from this machine, it would need 300 sq. /ft of rooftop oriented within 14 degrees east or west of south and get 5.5 sun hours a day. Wiring components, mounting bracket and safety equipment are needed in the complete system for a total cost of $30,000.

The citizen of Shakespeare Springs will benefit greatly from a project of Sustained Solar Development, a program with annual goals in which a set amount of UIA PV generation goes online each year. As the return of investment is realized on earlier systems money will be freed up for more solar development. A ten-year development program should easily yield 10 mw of generation. This will supply over 30,000 energy-efficient homes and small businesses.

Part 2 http://sundogpt.blogspot.com/2009/08/shakespeare-springs-sustained-solar.html

Part 3 http://sundogpt.blogspot.com/2010/01/four-dominant-factors-that-will-have.html



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