Davidson County Solar Farm

Last updated
Davidson County Solar Farm
CountryUnited States
Location Davidson County
Coordinates 35°44′57″N80°17′37″W / 35.74917°N 80.29361°W / 35.74917; -80.29361 Coordinates: 35°44′57″N80°17′37″W / 35.74917°N 80.29361°W / 35.74917; -80.29361
StatusOperational
Commission date December 2010
Solar farm
Type Flat-panel PV
Site area200 acres
Power generation
Units operational63,000
Nameplate capacity 17.2 MW
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The Davidson County Solar Farm is a 17.2 megawatt solar power station located in the heart of North Carolina, near the community of Linwood. SunEdison built the array of photovoltaic panels, and Duke Energy buys all the output from the solar farm. [1] [2] The solar farm is located on North Carolina Highway 47, off New Jersey Church Road. [3]

Solar power conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity

Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.

North Carolina U.S. state in the United States

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. North Carolina is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the 50 United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and South Carolina to the south, and Tennessee to the west. Raleigh is the state's capital and Charlotte is its largest city. The Charlotte metropolitan area, with an estimated population of 2,569,213 in 2018, is the most populous metropolitan area in North Carolina, the 23rd-most populous in the United States, and the largest banking center in the nation after New York City. North Carolina's second largest metropolitan area is the Raleigh metropolitan area, with an estimated population of 1,337,331 in 2018, and is home to the largest research park in the United States, Research Triangle Park, in Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh.

SunEdison, Inc. is a renewable energy company headquartered in the U.S. In addition to developing, building, owning, and operating solar power plants and wind energy plants, it also manufactures high purity polysilicon, monocrystalline silicon ingots, silicon wafers, solar modules, solar energy systems, and solar module racking systems. Originally a silicon-wafer manufacturer established in 1959 as the Monsanto Electronic Materials Company, Monsanto sold the company in 1989.

Contents

Economics

In mid-May 2008, the Davidson County Board of Commissioners agreed to subsidize the project. This included $1.8 million to go into land grading and multiple cash payments beginning in July 2009, and going through 2011. Another $127 million was raised from investors. [3] The solar farm created 80 jobs during construction, and three jobs in order to maintain the power facility. In addition, SunEdison will receive an annual refund of certain taxes pertaining to their various constructions due to modified legislation to include solar energy projects. [3] [4] SunEdison had been looking at an almost ten times larger 2,400-acre (970 ha) piece of land off of Interstate 85 near Lexington, but the owner declined to sell the property. [3] However the company had already spent $134,000 researching to see if that site would work. [3]

Interstate 85 Interstate across southeastern US

Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its current southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus interchanges with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, near Richmond. It is nominally north–south, but it is physically oriented northeast–southwest and actually covers a larger east-west span than north-south. While most interstates that end in a "5" are cross-country routes, I-85 is mainly a regional route, serving five southeastern states. Major metropolitan areas served by I-85 include the Greater Richmond Region in Virginia, the Research Triangle, Piedmont Triad, and Metrolina regions of North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, the Atlanta metropolitan area in Georgia, and the Montgomery metropolitan area in Alabama.

Efficiency

One of the driving forces behind the construction of this solar farm, and SunEdison's presence in North Carolina altogether, is due to a state law passed in 2007 that requires public utilities such as Duke Energy to obtain a minimum of 12.5% of their power from renewable energy by 2021. [3] The farm has a rating of 21.5 megawatts, which translates to 18 megawatts of peak AC power. [2] Every year that the solar farm is in use, it will offset 32 million pounds of carbon dioxide. SunEdison claims that once complete, the power plant will generate enough energy to power more than 2,600 homes. [2] The site uses GPS software to track the sun. [5]

Duke Energy company

Duke Energy Corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an American electric power holding company in the United States, with assets in Canada.

Renewable energy energy that is collected from renewable resources

Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

AC power

Power in an electric circuit is the rate of flow of energy past a given point of the circuit. In alternating current circuits, energy storage elements such as inductors and capacitors may result in periodic reversals of the direction of energy flow.

See also

Photovoltaics Method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity

Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry.

Solar power in the United States

Solar power in the United States includes utility-scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation, mostly from rooftop photovoltaics. As of the end of 2017, the United States had over 50 gigawatts (GW) of installed photovoltaic capacity. In the twelve months through December 2018, utility scale solar power generated 66.6 terawatt-hours (TWh), 1.66% of total U.S. electricity. During the same time period total solar generation, including estimated small scale photovoltaic generation, was 96.1 TWh, 2.30% of total U.S. electricity. In terms of total cumulative installed capacity, by year end 2017 the United States ranked 2nd in the world behind China. In 2016, 39% of all new electricity generation capacity in the country came from solar, more than any other source and ahead of natural gas (29%). By 2015, solar employment had overtaken oil and gas as well as coal employment in the United States. In 2016, more than 260,000 Americans were employed in the solar industry.

Renewable energy commercialization

Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat. Second-generation technologies are market-ready and are being deployed at the present time; they include solar heating, photovoltaics, wind power, solar thermal power stations, and modern forms of bioenergy. Third-generation technologies require continued R&D efforts in order to make large contributions on a global scale and include advanced biomass gasification, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy. As of 2012, renewable energy accounts for about half of new nameplate electrical capacity installed and costs are continuing to fall.

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The Enterprise Solar Farm is a 80 MWAC (105 MWp) photovoltaic power station located about 25 miles west of Cedar City, Utah in Iron County. The project was developed by SunEdison, built by Mortenson Construction, and commissioned in September 2016. The electricity is being sold under a 20-year power purchase agreement to Rocky Mountain Power which serves customers in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Three Cedars Solar Project Solar power station in Utah, USA

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References

  1. ↑ Chris Whitmore (27 January 2011). "Davidson County Solar Farm, North Carolina". PV Tech.
  2. 1 2 3 Barron, Richard M. "Solar Farm Coming to Davidson County." News & Record. N.p., 18 August 2009. Web. 14 October 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Solar Farm Moves Forward Hewlett, Michael. Winston-Salem Journal 7 April 2009 accessed 18 October 2009
  4. ↑ Solar Farm Will Be Built in the County Stratton, Seth. The Dispatch 22 May 2008 accessed 18 October 2009
  5. ↑ Solar farm in Davidson County feeds power grid with renewable energy February 6, 2011
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