Do we really need large solar farms? To answer this question, we should put PV solar power into context.
Solar farms need large flat areas for the installation of the panels, and this development space is often hard to find. Big plots of land are also usually good for other purposes, like agriculture, grazing or maybe residential property development.
The fact that less investment will go towards the development of big solar farms is confirmed by the cuts introduced by the British government in the financial incentives to support solar photovoltaic installations over 50kW in capacity. While PV solar systems under 50kW will still receive 43.1p/kWh, the new proposed rate for systems above 50kW are as follows:
- 50-150 kW - 19.0p/kWh
- 150-250 kW - 15.0p/kWh
- 250 kW-5 MW and stand-alone installations - 8.5p/kWh
What really should strike everyone is that a huge unused space that is available in almost every country in the world is the total residential rooftop area. If every British had a 2kW PV solar system at home, 44TWh of electricity would be generated each year, which is about 2/3 the total nuclear power generation in the UK.
The real renewable energy revolution is not in the hand of the energy companies but resides on top of our roofs.
Thanks to solar energy, the business of generating electricity is moving towards each one of us and everybody should understand that this is inevitably going to happen.
However, there are still many barriers that make it impossible for every individual to benefit from free energy from the sun.
High installation costs and the fact that many people live in rented properties are big barriers that prevent everybody from lowering their energy bills and becoming more independent from fossil fuels and big energy companies.
The breakthrough is to find viable and affordable ways to let each individual take part in the big solar power revolution.
Zero Emission Project is carrying out a campaign called 5ksolar. Everyone that joins the 5ksolar campaign supports this idea: solar power needs to belong to each one of us. Solar energy is the energy of the future and everyone should have the opportunity to benefit from it, not only those who can afford the installation costs.
If you want to know more about the 5ksolar campaign, read this page.
Comments
While I am hugely in favour of roof-top solar, I think that you are being a little unkind about PV farms. For example they need not complete with marginal agricultural use such as sheep grazing, bee-keeping and meadows. And putting them on top of landfill, not safe/good for much else, is quite common.
Rgds
Damon
Hi Damon,
yes, I am in favour of PV solar farms on top of landfill sites and other underused areas, I just wanted to be a little provocative here.
My point is that installing PV solar farms is not going to solve the energy problems of families, while a well planned distributed residential solar network can have huge positive results.
We should start pushing this idea and get enough support from many individuals in order to make domestic PV solar installations at home as common (and inexpensive) as having a TV aerial on our roof.
I like the TV aerial idea: maybe you'd find this item of mine relevant?
http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-G83-lite.html
Rgds
Damon
Damon,
many thanks for your link, that's very interesting.
On your page you say that the Mastervolt Soladin mini inverter probably meets the technical, safety and cost requirements suggested in your note, but would need a "G83-Lite" regime to become legal to deploy in the UK.
energyenv.co.uk claim that the Soladin 600 (160-700 Wp) mini inverter is usable for every type of solar panel and it is fully G83 certified for UK use:
http://www.energyenv.co.uk/Mastervolt_Soladin_GridTieInverter.asp
Do you have any further information about it?
Two issues with the Soladin 600:
1) Minimum input voltage of ~24V-nominal thus ruling out easy use of all the single 12V-nominal panels and stuff. Your minimum system just doubled in size/cost, etc. But not *too* bad.
2) G83 still requires a Part-P certified electrician to hard-wire it in (and nominally you have to notify the DNO formally): you can't just plug it in to your nearest socket (notwithstanding genuine safety concerns with 'widowmaker cords').
Soladin used to do a tiny 12V-in ~60W device; that was just the ticket.
Rgds
Damon