Saturday April 18, 2009 12:07
HEAT RATE
It is expressed as the number of BTUs of heat required to produce a kilowatt-hour of energy.
CAPACITY FACTOR
The net capacity factor of a power plant is the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its output if it had operated at full nameplate capacity the entire time.
LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS - Purdue University engineering school 1961-2 simplification.
HEAT OUT = HEAT IN - heat loss
Heat is measured in calories or BTUs.
1 kWh = 3412.14163 BTU.
http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/donbrown/donbrown.htm#computations
http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/ncualove/ncualove.htm#chu
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.April 10, 2009, 4:40PM — A Texas company plans a solar panel manufacturing plant west of Albuquerque that eventually could employ 1,000 people.Solar Array Ventures Inc., a startup company, announced the Bernalillo County plant Thursday and said it would relocate its headquarters from Austin to the Albuquerque area, the Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story Friday.
The factory — the company's first — should be producing panels by late 2010, said Solar Array's chief financial officer, Everett Rogers.
He expects construction to begin late this summer.
The company plans to invest $210 million in the initial phase, and would hire about 225 full-time employees with a payroll of $12 million in its first year. It could have 1,000 employees in five years.
Friday April 17, 2009 09:51
fast neutron
Santa Fe, NM
January 12, 2009
From actual experience, wind farms produce 1.2 watts per square meter. Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic methods capture 5 to 6 watts per square meter. There is no economy of size in either technology. Dividing the watts you need by those values gives the land area in square meters needed to produce the juice. The numbers are astronomical
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/santa-fe-new-mexican/T0QVJ5UD3R25C8HRL
http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/donbrown/donbrown.htm#adventA New Mexico-based developer of solar power systems plans to hire a team of engineers and partner with Arizona State University to develop more efficient solar panels. President and CEO Peter Green of Albuquerque-based Advent Solar Inc. says teaming up with ASU at its Skysong innovation center in Scottsdale will help as it tries to develop the lowest cost-per-watt of power in an increasingly competitive industry. ASU officials say the partnership benefits the university and complements a solar-panel testing facility it has in a partnership with TUV Rheinland Group of Germany. Advent has six employees at Skysong and about 45 others at a small manufacturing and research facility in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque Journal Friday April 17, 2009
Statements and links about PV solar CAPACITY FACTOR.
Solar photovoltaic array capacity factors are typically under 25%, which is lower than many other industrial sources of electricity.[27]
Note many about 15% capacity factors
Detailed assumptions on obligated load, load growth, use of credit multipliers, PV/CSP compliance, extent of compliance, capacity factors detailed are in excel worksheets
Below article appears to be very good on PV solar capacity factor.
An average annual statewide capacity factor of 17 percent is representative of PV systems that may be installed in California leading into 2007.
CPUC Self-Generation Incentive Program – Solar PV Costs and Incentive Factors Report PV system average capacity factors for 2003 and 2004 are shown in Figure 3-1. Annual average capacity factors were found to be 16 percent in 2003 and 17 percent in 2004. As expected, PV systems show seasonal changes in capacity factor. During summer months the capacity factor reaches nearly twenty-five percent. During late fall through early spring, capacity factors can drop well below 15 percent. As a result, electricity generation during these time periods can be two to three times lower than during summer from the same system. PV contribution to addressing summer peak demand is a well established benefit. However, if left unidentified in an incentive program, the drop in PV performance during the fall and winter may result in high expectations and disappointment.
Module Degradation: The conversion efficiency of all PV modules degrades slowly over time.
Capacity factors for solar technologies are assumed to vary by time of day and season of the year, such that nine separate capacity factors are provided for each modeled region, three for time of day and for each of three broad seasonal groups (summer, winter, and spring/fall). Regional capacity factors vary from national averages. The current reference case solar thermal annual capacity factor for California, for example, is assumed to average 40 percent; California’s current reference case PV capacity factor is assumed to average 24.6 percent. [Note Above SelfGen article estimates about 17%]
That corresponds to a nameplate capacity of 807 watts per household. Since the government hands out a subsidy of $5/W for solar photovoltaics with a 20% capacity factor, they should hand out $22.50/W for nuclear energy with a 90% capacity factor, right?
Further goggle search is leading to not-so-informative statements on capacity factor.
