Jasper solar project in SA versus Medupi

SoftDux-Rudi said:
Not quite...

This solar plant produces 96MW power, 50 times less than Medupi. It cost 36 times less to build though.
To produce 4800MW solar power would cost R145 Billion! Then you have the issue of replacing batteries every 5 to 10 years. Were the batteries calculated into the R2.9 billion?
The article doesn't mention anything about batteries, or standby time, so let's assume the 96MW gets produced ONLY during daylight hours - which is about 5-6 hours in South Africa. On a good sunny day. The Western Cape can have cloudy days for a few days at a time, throughout the year. So let's add a 20% - 30% loss due to bad weather.

On my small experiment solar "plant", I have about 23% loss during the year due to bad weather. And I can only use about 50% of the battery current, i.e. on a 105ah battery I can use about 53ah current. And I need to replace that within 5 hours, which means I need 11Ah solar power. A 300W solar panel give 8-8.5A (more like 8.2) and they cost between R3000 and R5000, depending on what and where you buy them. Certain brands actually offer more current throughout the day than others, and even give some "juice" when it's cloudy or the sun is settings and not shining directly on the panel.
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Who said anything about batteries? Or the Western Cape for that matter?
 
shogun said:
Who said anything about batteries? Or the Western Cape for that matter?
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Because putting them in one area puts odd load on the distribution system. Which is exactly what is happening now due to solar in the NC
 
JStrike said:
Very cool. Really drives home how Solar is not a replacement for Coal or Nuclear though
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Who ever said that it has to be a replacement for coal?? Does Eskom produce enough electricity to guarantee no load shedding using coal, nuclear and what not? No they dont. So then every extra drop of electricity regardless of where it comes from is welcome.
 
Knersus said:
Who ever said that it has to be a replacement for coal?? Does Eskom produce enough electricity to guarantee no load shedding using coal, nuclear and what not? No they dont. So then every extra drop of electricity regardless of where it comes from is welcome.
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Agreed. Just cautioning against the populists that think solar and wind are the solution to everything
 
JStrike said:
Because putting them in one area puts odd load on the distribution system. Which is exactly what is happening now due to solar in the NC
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Any extra capacity added will put load on the distribution system. That goes for Gas Turbines, Coal or Solar.
 
Our problem, when compared to Germany, is that our middle class isn't big enough to self-install domestic Solar on the same scale.

State subsidisation of this is also 'anti-poor' - as they cannot afford what they use as it is, never mind investing in something to get themselves less reliant on the state.

Concentrated Solar, OTH may be a middle ground worth investigating.

I also like the idea of peak and off peak pricing: incentivise people to use power at times other than morning or evening peak. Washing machines, pool backwashing, whatever- if it can be scheduled to run later, do it.
 
Budza said:
Our problem, when compared to Germany, is that our middle class isn't big enough to self-install domestic Solar on the same scale.

State subsidisation of this is also 'anti-poor' - as they cannot afford what they use as it is, never mind investing in something to get themselves less reliant on the state.

Concentrated Solar, OTH may be a middle ground worth investigating.

I also like the idea of peak and off peak pricing: incentivise people to use power at times other than morning or evening peak. Washing machines, pool backwashing, whatever- if it can be scheduled to run later, do it.
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As far as I am aware, PV and grid storage has overtaken concentrated solar in the cost department. You'll find very few new CSP projects getting funding.

I could be wrong, but this is what I've been reading.
 
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