New Solar Plant Opening north of Baldwin

[Doctor_K]

Hadn't seen this anywhere around here yet, and just came across it on jacksonville.com (courtesy of them):

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-09-28/story/solar-power-farm-launches-near-baldwin

Solar power farm launches near Baldwin

Posted: September 28, 2010 - 12:11pm
By Steve Patterson


As shafts of sunlight slipped between clouds, engineers mixed with business executives and environmentalists this morning to formally launch operation of Northeast Florida's first large solar power farm.

"This is a big day for Jacksonville. This is an exciting event," Mayor John Peyton told a crowd at the dedication of PSEG Jacksonville Solar, a 15-megawatt plant north of Baldwin off U.S. 301.

The farm's 200,000 solar panels can power up to 16,000 homes, said Diana Drysdale, the head of PSEG Solar Source, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group.

"We've taken a very important step here, not just for Florida but for the whole country," Drysdale said during a ceremony where close to 100 people sat under a tent on a rain-soaked field that used to be used for cattle pasture.

PSEG has a 30-year contract to sell power to JEA, which provided land next to its Brandy Branch natural gas power plant for construction of the solar farm.

A part of the power farm began making electricity in May, but testing to show the full system is working properly won't be completed until next week.

See Jacksonville.com later today or tomorrow's Times-Union for more details.\

[Captain Zissou]

200,000 panels for 16,000 homes??  That doesn't seem very efficient.  What is the cost of a plant that size??

[MusicMan]

Actually, it "doesn't seem very efficient" to burn coal to cool our homes.

[Overstreet]

200,000 panels for 16,000 homes??  That doesn't seem very efficient.  What is the cost of a plant that size??

It isn't efficient and I forgot the cost. The next generation of PV cells is supposed to be more efficient.

[civil42806]

200,000 panels for 16,000 homes??  That doesn't seem very efficient.  What is the cost of a plant that size??

How much acreage is 200,000 panels going to cover?

[Ernest Street]

With a 30 year lease, will this be maintained by PSEG?...With a 30 year warranty that says the upkeep won't be dumped on JEA after they fold in 4 years?
When I started hearing about 30 year leases with cell towers, i wondered what the breach of contract legalize said for THREE DECADES.....30 years is a long time to speculate.

[Dog Walker]

The 75 watt panels they are using are good for at least 50 years as long as they are not physically damaged by wind, etc.  No moving parts to wear out.  Higher power panels have a shorter life span, but they don't know how long they will last yet.  Warranty is currently 25 years from the manufacturer.

Only upkeep required is to wash the dust, dirt and bird poop off the fronts from time to time and to cut the grass and brush so that they don't shade the panels.

[Jason]

It's a great step forward but as other's have said, not the most effecient way to generate power.  IMO, it would have been better to use that money to subsidize buisnesses in the area to provide point of use solar systems that would utilize the rooftops of already developed properties.  The owners could have then put up a good chunk of the money for the costs as well thereby offsetting the overall costs and stretching the money further.  It would also eliminate the utility maintenance costs by passing them onto the owner.  The user would still have a JEA connection to make up the difference in whatever the solar panels can't produce at the time but the JEA rates could be locked in for a longer term as an incentive to the customer.

[Dog Walker]

Jason,  unfortunately JEA only pays the standard rate to residents or businesses who install solar systems and they will only apply the KWH over those used to the next month's bill.

If they would structure something for all property owners similar to the deal they gave the solar farm or follow the European (and Gainesville, Florida) model and use a "feed-in-tariff" you would quickly see every flat roof on every big box store and office park in Duval county covered with solar panels.

With a feed-in-tariff the utility contracts to buy all the solar power you can produce at a fixed, higher rate for twenty or thirty years.  With this fixed, an owner can calculate the return on investment and, in these low interest rate times, actually borrow the money necessary to pay for the system.  Every chicken house and warehouse in Germany is covered in solar panels due to this system and Germany isn't usually regarded as a place with a lot of sun.

Gainesville Regional Utilities is the first in the US to go to FIT and all of the other utilities including JEA are watching them closely.

I've got twenty thousand square feet of flat roof that I would love to cover with panels.

[Jason]

I agree.

I'm sure JEA is reluctant to enact the FIT model because of their current rate structure.  They are still one of the lowest priced electric utilities in the state.  Hopefully they will start to catch on and incentivise buisness owners versus trying to generate the power themselves using massive tracts of land and costly infrastructure.

Our current green technologies are much more suited for point-of-use applications.  Why not capitalize on this?

[NotNow]

I'm with these guys^^^

[Overstreet]

I'm also in favor of individual PV systems on buildings. However the next generation of PV cells will be more efficient and give more power per sq ft supposedly for less cost.  I'll wait on that last one.

Just remember though if you have a house with PV system hooked to the grid current regulations now require your system to go down when the grid goes down.

Also JEA settles up the PV generated kwh balance annually not monthly.

[Dog Walker]

Overstreet is right about grid-tied PV systems going down when the grid goes down.  It is a safety measure so that AC power isn't going into the grid when the linemen are trying to repair it. 

I've even tried fooling the inverter system by back feeding with a true sine wave generator, but the inverter software is too smart and refused to bring up the PV system.

On the other hand, being in the middle of Riverside, we haven't had the grid go down in over 5 years and it didn't go down in 2004 when we had four hurricanes go over us.

The new generation of PV cells, right now, gives you to option of more efficiency or lower cost.  They haven't managed to combine both yet, but that will probably come in the future.

For a homeowner or business building owner right now the easiest and cheapest way to reduce your electric bills is to paint your roof white and install a solar hot water heater.  One of the best open loop hot water systems on the market is actually manufactured right here in Jacksonville, in North Riverside.  You can even "buy local"!

[ChriswUfGator]

It's a great step forward but as other's have said, not the most effecient way to generate power.  IMO, it would have been better to use that money to subsidize buisnesses in the area to provide point of use solar systems that would utilize the rooftops of already developed properties.  The owners could have then put up a good chunk of the money for the costs as well thereby offsetting the overall costs and stretching the money further.  It would also eliminate the utility maintenance costs by passing them onto the owner.  The user would still have a JEA connection to make up the difference in whatever the solar panels can't produce at the time but the JEA rates could be locked in for a longer term as an incentive to the customer.

Well naturally, but initiatives like that would cause JEA to lose revenue and control. Can't have that...

[Jason]

And since the technology is getting better that simply means that households will be able to produce a larger percentage of their own consumption using the limited roof area they have thereby relying less on the utility connection.

And the issues with the PV systems potentially backfeeding the grid during downtime can be solved with some programming or some sort of electronic "backflow preventer".  One of the greatest benefits of site generated power is the ability to run independent of the grid especially during natural disasters such as hurricanes.  If your system is dead because JEA is down you haven't really gained much.

These issues are all solvable.  Just need some innovative and progressive thinking on JEA's end.

Well naturally, but initiatives like that would cause JEA to lose revenue and control. Can't have that...

That's the beauty of having a publicly owned utility... we the people have a say in what they do and how they operate.