Brave new World?

[santafe2]

Re: Brave new World?

The one commercial solar farm we have has collectors covering about one square mile in the sunniest part of the Province. It's output last year was less than 1 percent (no typo) of nameplate installed capacity. Now today, in the dead of winter, with the days short, the sun shining in clear skies and power demand high, its output is...zero. I suspect some sort of chronic technical problems here. Somebody lost their shirt on that boondoggle. Want to bet it was us ratepayers?

We should be clear that this isn't a solar panel issue, it's a political issue with solar riding one or both the twin rails of human incompetence and criminality. As long as there is a substation to move the energy to a market able to use it, this can be repaired easily, very easily. Average output in Canada is similar to Germany unless you're at a very high latitude. You should be near 100% name plate, (1 watt name plate power to 1 kw/h of energy per year). We get 50-60% more in the Southwest, but I digress.

While the assumption that ratepayers are footing the bill is possible, most Canadian subsidies were based on production credits so it's more likely the system owner is on the hook. If the criminal installers sold the system to your incompetent utility, it can be repaired. Any journeyman electrician with a basic understanding of DC systems can repair this system. It is, as they say, not rocket science.