Topaz solar power plant
| Topaz solar power plant | |||
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| location | |||
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| Coordinates | 35 ° 22 '55 " N , 120 ° 3' 37" W | ||
| country | United States | ||
| Data | |||
| Type | Photovoltaic power plant | ||
| Primary energy | solar power | ||
| power | 550 MW (electric) | ||
| owner | MidAmerican Renewables | ||
| operator | First solar | ||
| Project start | 2011 | ||
| Start of operations | November 2014 (complete) | ||
| Energy fed in (normal energy capacity ) | 1100 GWh | ||
| Website | topazsolar.com | ||
| was standing | March 2015 | ||
The Topaz solar power plant is an open-space photovoltaic system located in San Luis Obispo County , California . When Solar Star was completed in November 2014 and when it went into operation in June 2015, it was the most powerful solar park in the world with a peak output of 550 MW . The planned standard energy capacity is 1,100 GWh (1.1 billion kWh) per year, this corresponds to a planned average output of approx. 125 MW, with a capacity factor of 23%.
General
The solar power plant is located on agriculturally poor land in California. The total area extends over 25 km². Just a few kilometers away is the Carrizo Plain National Monument .
The solar park is owned by MidAmerican Renewables , which is part of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway holding and acquired the rights to the solar park in 2011. Construction began in November 2011, with the overall project being divided into several construction phases that were worked through one after the other. The last construction phase with 40 MW was completed in November 2014, several months before the originally planned completion in early 2015. The electrical energy produced annually is purchased by the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric , with whom MidAmerican concluded a supply contract for a period of 25 years.
technology
Are used thin-film modules of the American photovoltaic -Herstellers First Solar , who was the project also developed and responsible for the construction. A total of around 9 million individual solar modules were installed. Operation and maintenance are also taken over by First Solar.
The grid connection takes place via a high-voltage line running a short distance from the solar park , so that the grid feed could be realized at low cost.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Solar Star, Largest PV Power Plant in the World, Now Operational . In: Greentech Solar , June 26, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- ^ Atul Sharma, A comprehensive study of solar power in India and World . In: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 15, (2011), 1767–1776, p. 1772, doi : 10.1016 / j.rser.2010.12.017 .