Rushcliffe Solar

Rushcliffe Solar started as a Transition West Bridgford campaign to encourage greater use of Photovoltaic home power generation systems in Rushcliffe borough, but we are always willing to answer an enquiry from other towns in the region. There are many buildings and entire streets with roofs which have a good view of the Sun and could produce power for the Grid and Income for the occupants. Hit the You Enquire tab to get a free appraisal of the photovoltaic potential for your building. Email: RushcliffeSolar@gmail.com
If you are thinking about it, do not be put off by recent changes in the tariff!: Since April 2012, the tariff was reduced to 21 pence/unit and ones on poorly insulated buildings get only 9 pence/unit. There have been further reductions since. Use the Expertsure calculator to check out your house and see if it is still worth doing.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Solar farms

25 September 2011: I have just returned from a holiday in Northern Italy. I noticed a number of solar farms, and stopped to photograph this one.
  Each of these freestanding systems have 48 panels on them, yielding, I estimate about 10-11 kW each. The arrays are able to swivel to face the Sun, and they can also Tilt, based on the time of year and the clock setting.
  Although, in this photo, they are shading each other at sunrise and sunset (this is almost always the problem with all installations), the mechanisms ensure that for the majority of the day, the units can work at optimum generating capacity, benefitting from the clearer skies and the higher sun angles of Northern Italy. This will mean that the 'bell curve' of generation will pick up rapidly in the morning, and have a flat top throughout the day. Even on cloudy days, like the one in the photograph, an optimum angle means that the panel will still pick up a decent amount of power from the bright sky, by pointing in the brightest direction.
  The number of these was uncountable. They stretched far into the distance, in 3 directions from where I was standing. Many hundreds.
  There must be very little vandalism in Italy. Many of these solar farms are on the edge of the road with no fences or boundaries of the sort we see around the mobile phone masts on Wilford Hill. They wouldn't last a week here with the risks of vandalism, if they were unfenced. But if installed on safe land, these represent a very determined approach to power generation, that will deliver renewable power in sufficiently substantial quantities to support large communities. 

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