Author: Michał Ratajewicz

Renewable energy is a great way to help the environment and the economy but not everyone knows how to use it efficiently. A photovoltaic farm is of course a very beneficial solution, still it is definitely more worthwhile to combine it with energy storage. For this reason, we give you some tips so that you can consciously and appropriately store solar energy produced on a photovoltaic farm.

What is energy storage and how it works?

It is a separate device that forms part of a photovoltaic installation. Energy storage is used to store clean, environmentally friendly energy. In other words, the energy storage allows us to recover the excess electricity produced by our installation and use it at any time or sell it. 

There are many types of energy storage so everyone can find the best solution.

Why is energy storage on a farm so important?

The answer is simple. Energy storage can perform a variety of important functions – not only storing energy for later sale, but also controlling connection power, improving the characteristics of DSO-friendly current and stabilizing the grid. 

Storing solar energy on a farm is a simple solution that requires an initial investment. Still it brings many benefits from the first day. The more we know about this kind of solution, the more advantage of the opportunities that modern technology offers us we take.

Nowadays the popularity of photovoltaic farms keeps growing. This is the reason why scientists are constantly looking for new solutions, resulting in unusual, innovative projects. One of them is the latest idea of scientists from Switzerland, Austria and Germany, who have joined their forces and came up with photovoltaic farms erected over highways and expressways. 

It’s a great initiative to create additional space for generating low-carbon energy, because as we all know – there’s never enough clean energy. The installations are expected to stand over Swiss roads as early as 2023. That means thousands of kilometers of highways, thus thousands of kilometers of photovoltaic panels and huge amounts of green electricity produced

The first stage of the project is to develop a prototype of the roof so that it meets all the requirements for, among other things, safety and resistance to possible damage. The next stage is to estimate the cost of the entire project, along with its subsequent maintenance and to test the effectiveness of the installation conducted for a year on selected sections. 

The realization of this project has many more advantages than the mere production of low-carbon energy. These include protecting the pavement from various weather conditions which helps to increase its lifespan, improve safety and the comfort of residents, as the canopy is also intended to act as noise barriers. 

The project is financed by the Research Promotion Agency, the Austrian Ministry for Climate, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the German Federal Ministry of Transport and the Swiss Federal Office of Roads and Highways. This combination certainly guarantees success. We’re looking forward to further details and more innovative projects in the future. 

Title picture source: http://www.greendream.foundation/

Photovoltaics as well as photovoltaic farms keep enjoying unflagging and even growing popularity for several years. However, have you heard of any use of photovoltaics in conjunction with garbage? We assume you haven’t but such use exists as an opportunity for landfills and their second life.

It has already been applied in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Poland, and has been well accepted. Depending on the country, the reasons and sites vary but any reason to invest in clean energy is good. The most common use is of so-called “brownfields,” which are environmentally hazardous sites that have no promising future. This is because the surface on this type of site as well as what lies beneath it, is heavily contaminated and physically unstable. Photovoltaic farms are therefore a lifesaver for such. As many as 21 such projects have been built in the United States and they have produced as much as 207 megawatts (as of 2021).

Another aspect for which farms are being built on landfills is the fact that in many countries there is no permission to build on these kinds of sites even for several decades after closure! This is how the situation in Poland looks like. As an example a photovoltaic farm can be really a “second life” for such a site.

You are probably wondering what happens to the electricity produced at these farms? Well, most often it is collected by municipalities, so their residents pay up to 80% less for energy.

A photovoltaic farm always brings only advantages because the electricity is produced from renewable sources of energy. It’s not only about saving money but above all, about caring for the future of our planet and accelerating the energy transition which is extremely important now.

Photovoltaic farms are regularly springing up all over the world bringing real profits and energy independence, with no negative environmental consequences. There is a growing interest in smaller and larger solar power plants, which are becoming an excellent investment for the entrepreneurs.

In August 2022, the largest photovoltaic farm in Europe was commissioned in Spain! Its name is Francisco Pizarro and it is located in the province of Cáceres. The plant consists of as many as 1.5 million PV modules, has an impressive capacity of 590 MWp and covers an area of 13 square kilometers!

The energy produced by Francisco Pizarro will be used by large corporations to meet 100% of the energy needs of their factories, research centers or offices.

Around 1,500 people worked on the construction of the farm, most of whom were local residents. The bigger the construction is, the bigger are the costs – and this was no different in this case. The whole project cost around €300 million!

source:  https://www.iberdrola.com/home

Ever-increasing electricity prices make people become more environmentally aware, so the popularity of renewable energy sources is increasing. One such kind of source is the photovoltaic farm, which can produce a significantly large amount of energy.

Most investors focus mainly on making solar power plants as large as possible. However, there are also those who approach the subject much more creatively. The company China Merchants New Energy (CMNE) is the perfect example of this group. CMNE has created a photovoltaic farm in the shape of… a panda!

For centuries, the panda has been a symbol of China and its culture – so it is no surprise that the company decided on such a motif. With the capacity of up to 50 MW, the investment covers an area of approximately 100 hectares.

The unusual shape of the solar farm was achieved by using different types of panels – polycrystalline modules as well as monocrystalline cells. According to the assumptions, more than 3 billion kWh of energy will be generated within a quarter of a century and CO2 emissions will be reduced by 2.5 million tonnes. As many as 100 such solar power plants are planned in China.