California Solar Installation 'Avenal' to Be One of the Largest in the World
Tuesday, September 28th 2010 9:00 AM
By GetSolar Staff.
A new thin-film solar power facility in Kings County, California will provide enough power for 36,000 homes, while reclaiming overused agricultural land for sustainable use. The Avenal Solar Power Facility comprises three separate installations: Sun City, a 25-megawatt project; Sand Drag, a 24-megawatt project; and Avenal Park, with 8 megawtts of capacity. All three are expected to be commissioned in 2011.
With a total capacity of 45 megawatts, the Avenal project will be one of the largest solar power installations in the world, employing thousands of tandem-junction thin-film solar modules from the Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group.
"Together with Eurus Energy America and NRG Solar, we are turning land that once used photosynthesis to convert the sun's rays to produce food for our communities into a farm that uses photovoltaics to convert the sun's rays into clean energy for the same communities," said Eric Hafer, a senior vice president at the group.
Thin-film panels are generally cheaper to build and install than traditional crystalline silicon panels, but they also tend to be less efficient at converting the sun's rays into electricity.
The project is also unique in that it is being built on unused agricultural land, which has been rendered unproductive due to years of over-farming. As the debate over how to prioritize clean energy and fragile environments continues in places like the Mojave Desert, projects like Avenal are bringing solar installations to land that was going to waste.
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A new thin-film solar power facility in Kings County, California will provide enough power for 36,000 homes, while reclaiming overused agricultural land for sustainable use. The Avenal Solar Power Facility comprises three separate installations: Sun City, a 25-megawatt project; Sand Drag, a 24-megawatt project; and Avenal Park, with 8 megawtts of capacity. All three are expected to be commissioned in 2011.
