Clean energy: Solar plant uses creative solutions – 03/07/2024 – Market

Solar energy is expected to dominate global electricity markets in the coming decades and already represents three-quarters of renewable energy capacity, according to the IEA (International Energy Agency).

For this year, BloombergNEF predicts that solar installations will increase another 25%, adding more than 500 gigawatts of capacity.

All that solar energy needs a lot of space. To power just 1 megawatt of capacity, at least 20,000 square meters are needed, meaning that a 200 megawatt project (approximately 3,000 panels) occupies more than 10 square kilometers.

This is one of the reasons why China — the world’s largest solar energy market — is developing many projects in remote desert regions. This is also why the IEA expects rooftop and home solar to expand faster than solar farms this year.

“It’s great to have [instalações solares] in our communities,” says Bonnie Heiple, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy. “In fact, seeing where your energy comes from encourages people to make the kinds of changes in their lives that we’re asking for.”

As solar energy gains momentum, its advocates are getting more creative about where to place the panels. There are floating solar farms, arrays on top of department stores and on yachts.

There are panels small enough to work on a balcony and even small enough to attach to a smartphone.

To minimize land clearing, engineers are also working on incorporating the technology into existing infrastructure. From landfills to art installations, here are five unexpected places where you might find a solar farm — or at least some strategically placed panels.

Parking lots

Parking lots and garages require a lot of space. Adding a solar canopy can provide shade, security and seamless charging for electric vehicles, says Ben Jones, vice president of design and engineering at New York-based DSD Renewables.

DSD is behind a project to add solar awnings to 16 parking lots and garages at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and has installed nearly 200 megawatts of awning projects across the U.S. since its founding in 2019.

He is also the architect of a 6.5-megawatt marquee project at Caesars Entertainment Casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The design provides about 6% of the energy used by the casino, while also providing shade for the parking garage’s upper deck.

Jones says awning designs use land efficiently and “broaden the mind about where you can put solar.”

For parking lots, “most people avoid the top layer of a multi-story car park because it’s too high and you’ll be subject to pollution, so it’s better to use that dead space usefully,” he said.

These types of projects can also contribute significantly to a company’s or municipality’s renewable energy goals. “These projects integrate well and reduce your operating costs,” says Jones.

Golf courses

Indoor golf courses can be ideal locations for solar farms. There is less work required to clear the land, which tends to be relatively flat. There is also a certain poetic justice in installing renewable energy in places that used to consume water resources and compromise local biodiversity.

In Calverton, Long Island, Calverton Links is home to a nearly 23-megawatt solar project that opens in 2022, nine years after the field closed.

The project is owned by National Grid Ventures, the venture capital arm of National Grid, which operates electricity grids in the UK and US.

Will Hazelip, president of National Grid Ventures Northeast, says an ideal golf course for solar energy is reasonably priced and close to electrical grid infrastructure. “You’re close to demand and it’s a big space,” he says. “The challenge is finding that exact combination.”

Floating Solar Power Plants

To completely avoid land restrictions, many countries are testing floating solar plants. While costs can be high — 40% more than land-based plants, according to BloombergNEF — large, flat surfaces with constant access to sunlight are tempting.

Hundreds of floating projects have been erected on lakes and reservoirs around the world. Japan has dozens of small floating arrays, India has opened important operations and facilities have been built in countries such as Colombia, Israel and Ghana.

Last year, the largest floating solar project in the US came online in New Jersey, where it generates enough energy to power 1,400 homes.

In China, a huge floating solar plant in Huainan, in the eastern province of Anhui, has more than 500,000 panels — enough to generate power for more than 100,000 homes.

The fleet of panels is the size of 400 football fields and stretches across an artificial lake that sits on top of an old coal mine (yet another poetic justice).

Floating plants don’t necessarily generate more electricity than those on land, but a study published in Nature Sustainability concluded that more than 6,000 local power systems around the world could be completely self-sufficient with this type of generation.

Decommissioned landfills and fossil fuel sites

As climate change drives a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, there are a growing number of opportunities to make this transition directly.

Retired fossil fuel sites, which already have access to local power grids, are excellent candidates for solar farms, says Thomas Byrne, CEO of New York-based renewable energy company CleanCapital.

“What a wonderful story it is to be able to say, ‘Everyone ignored this piece of land, but now we’re using it again to feed the future,'” says Byrne. CleanCapital owns and operates 300 megawatts of solar capacity, including a solar farm on a former steel mill in Buffalo, New York.

In the US, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) approved in 2022 includes incentives for companies to build solar projects on contaminated land — landfills and decommissioned industrial plants whose opportunities for reuse are severely limited.

Last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency introduced a program to promote and assist these types of transformations.

“It’s dead space and can’t be used any other way, so it’s better to build a solar farm,” says Jones at DSD, which opened a 4.3-megawatt solar farm on a landfill last year in Bethel, New York. . More than half of the energy generated supplies residents and local businesses.

Massachusetts, which offers its own tax incentives for companies to install solar on contaminated land, currently leads the U.S. in such installations; the state has 92 solar farms on closed landfills, totaling 256 megawatts of capacity.

In 2022, solar landfills offset more than 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy.

Solar art

Artist Elizabeth Monoian and architect Robert Ferry are the couple behind Land Art Generator, an organization that holds competitions for solar art designers and connects winners with communities that provide grants for public art.

Started in 2008, Land Art Generator now has more than 1,500 ideas from artists that are presented to communities around the world.

In San Antonio, Land Art Generator worked with JT Brackenridge School to create a solar panel mural that celebrates the community’s history. The art printed on the panels — a photo of the class of 1906 and the fifth grade class of 2020 — only reduces 4% of the energy that would have been generated.

Next year, Land Art Generator plans to launch a 100-foot-tall “Arch of Time” in a Houston park.

Designed by Berlin-based artist and architect Riccardo Mariano, the project is made from black solar panels and will provide shade while generating enough energy to power 40 nearby homes. The installation also works like a clock, projecting the sun’s rays in alternating colors.

“We’re at a point where solar energy is the least expensive way to generate energy. No matter how you look at it, no matter where you are,” says Ferry. “It has become a space for the industry to explore new ways of designing these infrastructures.”