After Gutenberg

“The Alamosa Photovoltaic Solar Plant will generate enough clean energy to remove the carbon emissions produced by 2,840 cars driving 12,500 miles annually or roughly 710,000,000 miles over 20 years.” Which is congruent with a new paradigm advocated by Heckeroth: sun to wheels… Well, congruent if any of the more than five million passenger cars sold in the United States in 2005 also could go electric miles. No? How about 2006? No? 2007? 2008? …n

Via Renewable energy Access we learn from a SunEdison press release (PDF) that the company has broken ground on an 8.2MW photo voltaic solar electric power plant located on 82-acre tract in south central Colorado. “The National Renewable Energy Laboratory rates the San Luis Valley as having the best solar power conditions in Colorado.”

The San Luis Valley will be home to one of the nation’s largest photovoltaic plants. This plant brings rural economic development and clean, reliable, domestic-sourced energy which advances Colorado to a New Energy Economy,” said Governor Ritter.

In the absence of federal policy, Colorado is one of 23 states that have enacted renewable portfolio standards. In March, Colorado enacted legislation that requires utilities to derive 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The Alamosa solar project is an important step for one such utility already, Xcel Energy, to meet Colorado Amendment 37. Xcel Energy already has a renewable portfolio. Currently, 78 Mw wind power is available to over 46,500 Customers Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico.

Photo Credit: Terry O’Rourke
In 1993, to reinforce a weak feeder, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) installed a 500-kilowatt photovoltaic system at its Kerman substation near Fresno, California. PG&E found that distributed systems like this have measurable benefits such as increased system reliability and peak-shaving capabilities. It as yet is unclear whether the Alamosa installation will use crystalline silicon solar panels or other less efficient, but also less expensive, semconductor technology.

Producing electricity from solar energy using photovoltaics (PV) on a commercial basis generally can be between 7 to 20 percent efficient, whereas solar-thermal electric generation can be more than 35 percent efficient. Thus, it was an interesting choice by Xcel Energy to go with PV, although they certainly are part of increasing investment in utility grade photo voltaic solar electric power.

With dire predictions of climate change, rising fuel prices, and the advent of lower cost, thin film laminates, PV module shipments should surpass estimates by the Department of Energy Solar Energy Technology Program that total installed PV capacity may reach 10-15 GW in domestic markets by 2015.

This blog recently noted 11-megawatt (MW) Serpa photo voltaic solar electric power plant in Portugal, after relaying an announcement by First Solar that it will supply approximately 550,000 solar modules for a 40-megawatt solar power plant to be constructed in the Saxon region of Germany in the municipality of Brandis. The First Solar installation in Saxony will surpass installation of a 18 MW facility in Nevada.

Photo: Business Wire

Spread across 150-acres on a Portuguese hillside, 52,000 photovoltaic modules sit amid the olive trees generating electricity for the town of Serpa, Portugal. The ground-mounted photo voltaic system uses of silicon solar cells to convert sunlight directly into energy and a tracking system to follow the sun’s daily path across the sky.

SunEdison, North America’s leading solar energy services provider, will build, finance and maintain the photo voltaic, solar electric power plant in Colorado, which is scheduled for completion by early 2008. Xcel Energy has a power purchase agreement to buy the solar power generated by the Alamosa plant.

“With wind farms across the plains, new bio-diesel and ethanol plants, the National Renewable Energy Lab, innovative businesses like SunEdison and Xcel Energy and this solar energy project, Colorado really is the renewable energy capital of the Nation,” said U.S. Senator Ken Salazar. “Combined with responsible development of fossil fuels and new technologies, renewable energy resources will help to secure our energy independence, strengthen our national and economic security and conserve our natural resources. And, solar energy will play an ever increasing role in that independence movement. This solar plant project, near my home in the San Luis Valley, will help bring new investments and new jobs to Colorado and I am proud to participate in this groundbreaking event.”

It was unclear from the press release whether the Alamosa plant will use crystalline silicon solar panels or other less efficient, but also less expensive, semiconductor technology. One new approach is to do without tracking apparatus, either with the addition of concentrating lens or non-imaging optics, or the use of solar cells with a more sophisticated design of the photo voltaic substrate.