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Built in the 2010s at a cost exceeding $2 billion, the farm is no longer economically viable. The technology has advanced so rapidly, and the cost of new panels has dropped so drastically, that it is now cheaper to build new farms than to maintain the older style ones.
What does one do with five miles' worth of obsolete solar panels?
My instinct is to leave it catching photons and pushing electrons as long as possible. Hopefully the mode of failure as panels fail allows the much of the rest of the system to keep functioning.
At some point, the wiring will be economical to salvage.
It was never economically viable. Solar energy for general energy production is a great big waste. All that land being consumed, and the panels are constantly deteriorating, and at a faster real-world rate than the salesmen claim. All the money was made by the people in it at the beginning.
I thought Ivanpah was a mirror and water system where the mirrors concentrate the solar heat onto a water tank which then boils, creating steam to turn turbines.
IE. Those are not the kinds of things you can reuse residentially.
Quote: DJTeddyBearWait a sec…
I thought Ivanpah was a mirror and water system where the mirrors concentrate the solar heat onto a water tank which then boils, creating steam to turn turbines.
IE. Those are not the kinds of things you can reuse residentially.
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You're right! I just looked it up, it is that kind of technology.
No chance of that being palmed off on homeowners, but I think the cement plants might have use for that equipment. Making Portland cement is a very energy hungry process and if they could heat their kilns or even just preheat their feedstock directly with solar that would save them a bit of money.
Quote: AutomaticMonkeyQuote: DJTeddyBearWait a sec…
I thought Ivanpah was a mirror and water system where the mirrors concentrate the solar heat onto a water tank which then boils, creating steam to turn turbines.
IE. Those are not the kinds of things you can reuse residentially.
link to original post
You're right! I just looked it up, it is that kind of technology.
No chance of that being palmed off on homeowners, but I think the cement plants might have use for that equipment. Making Portland cement is a very energy hungry process and if they could heat their kilns or even just preheat their feedstock directly with solar that would save them a bit of money.
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Most of the cement factories I've been to don't have 1200 spare acres to dedicate to a mirror field.
The rest of the cement factories I've been to kick up too much dust for the mirrors to keep mirroring.
Quote: billryanArizona just approved a 2,000-acre solar farm that will generate enough power for 70,000 homes. The location, between Phoenix and Tucson was chosen as being the lthe least disruptive of the sites being considered, and is due to open in 2028. It is being privately funded by the California company that will build and operate it.
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Is this the Pinyon solar project?

