Solar Crowd Wisdom
What does 42,000+ simulations tell us?
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ >๐ฐ๐ฎ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐?
Last year, covering ๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง 42,000 ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ 3.35 ๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ were simulated in the RatedPower platform.
Design trends from this pre-work that many developers undertake as part of their project feasibility analysis (i.e. design and basic engineering processes) for for utility-scale solar PV plants give some insight (wisdom) about the future.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฒ:
๐๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐จ๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ค๐ฃ. For example, simulated projects in Saudi Arabia exceeded 880 GW, nearly 5x the US average, and nearly 10x the Chinese average.
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐จ๐๐ฏ๐. In general, smaller projects chose string inverters and larger projects choose central inverters, with projects in the 50-100MW representing the crossover point.
๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐ค๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ฎ. While โsimulations show that trackers are chosen for simulations that produce, on average, 1.7 times more power than those with fixed structures and twice as much as plants with east-west configurationsโ, there remains a wide variation in tracker choices by country.
๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฉ 10-13%. While survey participants highlighted โGrid Saturation and Instabilityโ as the biggest challenge facing the renewable sector in the remaining year, solar facility designs incorporating BESS have remained steady at 10-13%.
There is plenty more in the report, including lists of the top simulated manufactures for modules, inverters and simulations.
๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐? ๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ป๐ผ๐?