Solar Star

Solar Star
Location of Solar Star in California
Country United States
Location Rosamond, California
Coordinates 34°49′50″N 118°23′53″W / 34.83056°N 118.39806°W / 34.83056; -118.39806Coordinates: 34°49′50″N 118°23′53″W / 34.83056°N 118.39806°W / 34.83056; -118.39806
Status Operational
Construction began 2013
Commission date June 19, 2015
Owner(s) BHE Renewables
Solar field
Type Flat-panel PV
Site area 13 square kilometres (5.0 sq mi)
Power generation
Nameplate capacity 747.3 MWp, 579 MWAC
Website
us.sunpower.com

Solar Star is a 579-megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station near Rosamond, California. Completed in June 2015, it was the world's largest solar farm in terms of installed capacity, using 1.7 million solar panels, made by SunPower and spread over 13 square kilometers (3,200 acres).[1][2][3]

Comparison to similar plants

Compared to other photovoltaic plants of similar size, Solar Star uses a smaller number (1.7 million) of higher efficiency arrays, mounted on single axis trackers. In contrast, the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm and the Topaz Solar Farm (550 MW each) use a larger number (roughly 9 million) of non-tracking CdTe photovoltaic modules rather than conventional crystalline silicon PV technology, spread over a larger area (about 25 square kilometers). Both approaches appear commercially viable.[4]

There are a number of other solar photovoltaic plants nearby:

Production

Generation (MWh) of Solar Star 1 [7]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2014 -- -- 14,332 28,753 36,448 38,215 35,596 36,759 37,188 42,315 31,070 24,669 325,345
2015 34,125 43,302 69,839 84,200 97,302 93,801 99,408 97,305 81,857 63,305 55,844 44,893 865,191
2016 39,867 39,296 32,636 84,802 91,786 523 52,262 99,009 - - - - 440,181
Total 1,630,717
Generation (MWh) of Solar Star 2 [8]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2014 14,321 19,610 30,291 42,338 44,483 52,767 52,276 50,675 40,447 32,848 380,056
2015 40,769 50,582 68,531 77,036 87,210 83,183 87,909 85,625 72,530 55,497 49,895 39,635 798,402
2016 34,065 56,385 53,776 74,427 89,089 65,376 95,256 86,438 - - - - 554,812
Total 1,733,270

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.