[Our Environmental Manager had some gentlemen in to look
at our plant to see if we were a good candidate for solar power. They said that our plant could be 95% solar dependent.
I have not done the research yet,but that sounds unreal, plus they say that we could have a 3 year payback.
REPLY You sound skeptical - I think that is a good thing.
Can it be done YES
Wlll it be expensive OH YES
Will it pay for itself in three years? PROBABLY not.
If it were a lighting upgrade ie replacing ballasts and lamps in existing fixtures you may get three year payoff. That is tne next best to insulation and is the second low hanging fruit favorite.
If these guys are so sure then have them finance the whole deal and the two of you split the savings. This has been commonly done on lighting upgrades, heat pump heat systems and some motor upgrades. I predict you will see a lot of hemming and hawiing on their part and a great reluctance.
Have any of you seen a successfull Solar application in a
industrial plant. We have about 4- 125 hp motors in our plant ,plus lighting, and many 15 hp motors.
REPLY on this website and others you see some factories with solar panels on roof tops, nice pictures and all that but no data to show performance either electrical or financial.
What about Snow and Ice on the panels?
REPLY Would definitely diminish capacity since both especially snow are very good at reflecting light.
Also ,would you have any good links?
REPLY Would also recommend EREN. They seem to be most unbiased and accurate data. Check with your utility for information. Another good resource is Washington State University - they have an energy efficiency group.
Also , what about Wind Turbines. We have a quarry that we
can have a entire farm. Are some areas better with available wind , and it seems like the wind turbines could be geared
that less wind would be needed.
REPLY A lot of people with sailboats say the wind is free - well it is UNTIL you go to the sail shop - I have a sailboat - the cost of capture and untilization of wind is NOT free. Wind is not all that easy. There are relatively few locations based on percentile land area that will work out. I believe EREN has wind maps that predict performance of wind generation. I believe you will find wind is not recommended unless wind velocity is 30 mph or more and for EXTENDED duration ie hours. Seattle yearly average velocity is 7.5 over the period 1996 to 2006 per Nat Weather Service data. yes we have some pretty good winds and storms but today there is almost no wind. Summer sailing in Puget Sound is often done with an engine - there are a lot of mill pond smooth summer days.
I need to study this more
REPLY Oh yes - there are a lot of snake oil guys in the wind and solar energy business and there are some people who really know what they are talking about - the trick of course is finding the good guys.
One of the issues with either solar or wind is when you are generating lots of power and you are meeting your own load plus a surplus - what do you do with surplus? Four options
1. Sell to utility
2. Charge battery bank
3. Dump to waste heat
4. Turn off generator ie feather turbine or other method - they must have overspeed trip and overload trip - and in case of solar pull the shades maybe??
Some of the issues for options above
1. Sell to utility is probably best. Here in Washington state utilities are required to allow feeding power back. In essance your equipment is paralleled to grid. However they get to specify the equipment you will need to do it. Will take special switchgear and controls. They may not and probably will not let you become an islanded generation plant able to keep their system energized in case of outage without even more controls. Gets expensive.
2. Need battery charger more controls - may be good option
3. Seems kind of silly to buy equipment and dump the power
4. Would have to research this more.
Dan Bentler