gunner3006
Active VIP Member
They mostly are. I was referring to being able to convert them to natural gas. Both of these towns are in prime locations. For power generation.
Solar Power
- Thread starter RXN
- Start date
They mostly are. I was referring to being able to convert them to natural gas. Both of these towns are in prime locations. For power generation.
Stg2Suby
Active VIP Member
Need some hard data on solar production in Canada. I have no doubt it works in certain locations, but further to X-its comments it doesn't sound like the installations in BC or AB are doing much. Case in point - check the Brooks Solar output on ASEO website anytime and its' usually 0 or 1MW, even mid day. A couple days ago I saw 6MW which was a record.
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X-it
Active VIP Member
Well we have to pay for the electricity, nothing frost my aZZ more than Suzuki standing there with a protest sign at site c dam saying put in wind and solar power and then getting kick back money to the Suzuki foundation. At least now we can ask him some real questions before they waste money and jack up our electricity bills to pay for this crap. Hopefull people get informed before the wool gets pulled over our eyes. Thanks for finding that Brooks Solar Stg2Suby.
Stg2Suby
Active VIP Member
Capacity Factor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacity_factor
Wind turbines capacity factor typically 30-40%. This is reflected fairly accurately in the historical MWHr wind generation for Alberta. Ie: 1445MW nameplate of wind generation actually produces 433 to 578MW averaged over time.
Solar capacity factors from the Wiki article - best case plant in Arizona on the 33rd parallel had a CF of 29%. Another plant on the 49th parallel had a CF or 12%
So solar indeed seems very inefficient up north here.
Wind turbines capacity factor typically 30-40%. This is reflected fairly accurately in the historical MWHr wind generation for Alberta. Ie: 1445MW nameplate of wind generation actually produces 433 to 578MW averaged over time.
Solar capacity factors from the Wiki article - best case plant in Arizona on the 33rd parallel had a CF of 29%. Another plant on the 49th parallel had a CF or 12%
So solar indeed seems very inefficient up north here.
And by stupid, I mean its a ****ing joke we are looking at anything besides natural gas.
We don't need solar or wind or coal or a dam or nuclear...
Not like we are hurting for resources here, just short on brains running the show. We should be selling electricity all over north america
not wasting money on solar panels in the arctic circle.
We don't need solar or wind or coal or a dam or nuclear...
Not like we are hurting for resources here, just short on brains running the show. We should be selling electricity all over north america
not wasting money on solar panels in the arctic circle.
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Rene G
Active VIP Member
You hit the nail on the head with that one, we have so much Nat gas in AB and BC it’s bind blowing that we aren’t using it to generate electricity yet.
ABMax24
Active VIP Member
We do use natural gas to generate electricity, there are 4 power plants in the Grande Prairie area I can think of, TransCanada has a Rolls-Royce gas turbine on the Weyerhauser mill site, Exelon and ATCO both have gas turbines at Poplar Hill near the Wembly Gas Plant (southwest of LaGlace), and Northstone Power has 4 reciprocating natural gas generators adjacent to the Elmworth gas plant.
The largest power plant in Alberta is the Enmax Shepard Energy Center in Calgary, in uses 2 large natural gas turbine engines, with the waste exhaust heat feeding a single steam turbine to increase efficiency.
Over 50% of the power on a daily basis in Alberta is produced by natural gas.
And there is no good reason that we couldn't be making a lot more power then we already are.
ABMax24
Active VIP Member
I'd definitely rather have a natural gas fueled power plant in my back yard than a open pit coal mine and a coal thermal powerplant.
But natural gas plants also work extremely well as peaker plants, taking the load when other sources like wind or solar loose output, or when everyone goes home at night turning on the tv and stove putting a huge load on the grid. Some of these gas turbines can go from stopped to wound out at full load in 3 minutes.
Stg2Suby
Active VIP Member
http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet
MC - max capacity
TNG - total net generation (ie: what is being produced right now)
DCR - declared contingency reserve. Basically how much extra capacity your generators can supply instantaneously to help control system frequency fluctuations.
Note the wind generation has no DCR, how could it because those turbines just pump random amounts of power into the grid.
The "other" is mainly biomass, waste heat recovery projects, and of course the Brooks Solar pumping in a whopping 0 to 1MW of green power into the grid.
LOL love picking on Brooks Solar poor little fella
MC - max capacity
TNG - total net generation (ie: what is being produced right now)
DCR - declared contingency reserve. Basically how much extra capacity your generators can supply instantaneously to help control system frequency fluctuations.
Note the wind generation has no DCR, how could it because those turbines just pump random amounts of power into the grid.
The "other" is mainly biomass, waste heat recovery projects, and of course the Brooks Solar pumping in a whopping 0 to 1MW of green power into the grid.
LOL love picking on Brooks Solar poor little fella
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ABMax24
Active VIP Member
The Brooks Solar plant regularly hits 13MW and higher in the summer.
Stg2Suby
Active VIP Member
Yes I believe it, I've only been paying attention to it last few couple months with the sun low on the horizon. And it was at 6 MW the other day. Just fun to run it up the flagpole for a little solar bashing lol
ABMax24
Active VIP Member
No worries. Lots of people like to bash it, but solar is becoming more main-stream. What made me really take notice is our neighbor works for ATCO and they just had 22 panels installed on their roof, we signed the contract for our system a few weeks after.
Mike270412
Golden Boy
I saw a map the other day(can't find it again) that showed a line quite a ways south of the 49th that claimed anywhere north of which solar was not economically feasible.
ABMax24
Active VIP Member
If it wasn't for rebates I wouldn't have done it, I'm estimating a payback period of 15 years, but its so hard to guess the future price of power, it could end up being 8 or 35 years.
But I just look at it as a way of getting some of my carbon tax money back.
Caper11
Active VIP Member
So what did it cost and whats the payback??? Is the payback before the end of the panels life cycle???
ABMax24
Active VIP Member
After rebate, tax, and install it will cost $6500 for a 3kw system that will produce 100% of what I use annually. The panels and inverters are both warrantied for 25 years, life should be 30+years. Everything else without the long warranty is basic strut mounts on the roof and normal electrical cable and breakers.
Has there ever been any solar or wind installations that have ever turned a profit anywhere on earth? All costs are hidden when they show feasibility. If not for triple the power rates, giving free land and chit load of free grants, no one would even invest a nickle building these. We used to complain about $.06 /kWh. This crap has made it OK to triple that rate. Germany and Ontario ( and many more) are screwed because of these incentives.
Cdnfireman
Active VIP Member
Using the typical factoring for panel output, your 3kw system will put out about 750w and will provide 25% of your use. And the payback will be 60 years. And you didn’t get any carbon tax money back. You just paid $6500 out of your pocket for something that you admitted you wouldn’t do if you had to pay full price.
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