Solar Array Saves Money Now, Lays Groundwork for Next-generation Technology
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By Diana Anderson, Writer/ Editor, Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory recently constructed a 95 kW solar array on its campus. The solar farm provides renewable power for the laboratory's Emergency Operations Center, saving about $9,400 and 94 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. The solar array also doubles as a test bed for scientific research.
Argonne nanoscientist Seth Darling is using the new solar array to study how various types of solar panels perform in the Midwest region. “There’s an absence of good, objective performance comparative data, particularly in the Midwest,” said Darling. “That sort of information is good for everyone to have — homeowners, business owners, and so on.”
Argonne has already partnered with the Illinois Tollway on a joint energy study focusing on solar panel research. Argonne’s Midwest Photovoltaic Analysis Facility Initiative, of which Seth Darling is a part, studies multiple solar panel technologies located at the Illinois Tollway’s Downers Grove headquarters. The goal of the initiative is to evaluate how solar technologies perform in the Midwest region under various environmental conditions.
“We’re using six to eight different types of panel technologies in our research partnership with the Illinois Tollway,” said Darling. “So, we’re getting some good data, but not very strong statistics because there are such a small number of panels in the study.”
To alleviate this problem, Darling worked with Argonne’s Sustainability Program Office to have a variety of solar panel technologies installed as part of the laboratory’s on-site solar farm infrastructure. Argonne’s solar array is ten times larger than the array located at the Tollway’s headquarters and it uses three types of panel technologies.
“Argonne’s larger solar array will enable us to collect more reliable data,” said Darling. “We’ve also set up lots of weather data-gathering technology stations as part of the solar array.”
Weather data will be collected as part of Darling’s solar panel performance study. Each solar panel is equipped with a temperature sensor, dynamometers will measure wind, and pyrometers will measure sunlight or insolation — the measure of solar radiation energy received on a surface area.
“One of the things we’d like to determine is which types of panels perform better in higher or lower levels of light,” said Darling.
The Midwest’s seasonal weather fluctuations make solar harvesting a challenging activity, but researchers like Darling are attempting to determine which types of panels perform better in the region. This type of data is essential for determining the future of next-generation solar technology and can directly affect the course of the market to come.
anonymous
8:37 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
With all of the $ savings from using solar energy the ITA can hire a bunch more 6 figure salary administrators. Not only does the toll authority suck $ out of my wallet- now they want to suck energy out of the sun.
Science Guy
9:54 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Homewood, IL, has one array that I am aware of. It's only a 1kW residential system, but it's been around for over a year.
https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/yuD934827
mike ellison
11:06 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
On one hand, they report a savings of $9,400 per year, yet then say that there's an absence of good objective data on these things. So how did they figure out the $9,400 in savings? They didn't. Typical green lobby that pushes for 'solutions' that don't make financial sense with the existing state of technology.
Olddeegee
11:23 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
If all people thought like you 130 years ago we'd be riding horses and getting messages by pony express. The US needs to lead in this tech and sell it to the world. Research and development is ALWAYS worth it.
robert levy
12:39 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
that's not what it says... The "$9400.00" is the savings for that facility and the "absence of good objective data" is in comparing types of panels to each other. And your "Typical green lobby that pushes for 'solutions' that don't make financial sense with the existing state of technology." isn't really true anymore either. It all depends on the load and the facilities exposure. It actually applies the same way to residential now.
SouthSide
12:20 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Progress!
Tired of the B.S.
1:04 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Since there is nothing in the article that tells us how much the solar array costs and the $9400 per year savings is not proven, I wonder how long it would take for the supposed savings to pay for the solar array.
I know that progress is great, but I wonder if it is worth it. After all, isn't this the same technology that President Obama invested so much of our tax dollars in and then those companies went bankrupt (Solyndra).
Olddeegee
3:02 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Nice cherry picking. You'd rather leave all research to the Chinese? Not everyone trying to build airplanes made money, but when the government got into it the added funding had planes flying at Mach 1 in 30 years. We need to invest heavily in this. It will progress and achieve what we'll need in the future. Limiting ourselves to fossil fuels is insane. We need all forms of energy.
Sgt. USMC
4:37 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
I agree with Oldeegee. Research and development is a trial and error process. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail. When you fail you understand the mistakes and fix them. Some of those companies did go bankrupt, but we learned a lot from the failures and progressed.
Karl Brubaker
8:53 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Government funded research is absolutely critical in nearly all aspects of R&D advancements. Sure, some will fail but the ROI is fantastic. Private companies will not take some chances because of the large chance of short term financial failure.
Quote:
"Most research on basic scientific topics – in physics, biology, chemistry, etc. – does not have immediate commercial applications and so this work is highly dependent on government funding. Federal funds pay for 80% of the basic science research in this country, through laboratory facilities in universities and in government agencies such as the National Institutes for Health."
Bob Laird
9:10 pm on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Alternative energy is definitly essiential for the future. We're running out of fossil fuel and space for spent nuclear fuel. However. The government is spending our money for the research, but the private sector will reap the benifits. Will they pay it back? I"m glad to see advances in clean resources, we've been fouling the nest for too long, but again will we be paying to line somebody elses pocket? I guess it doesn't really matter if the end result is a cleaner planet.
mike ellison
12:35 pm on Sunday, February 10, 2013
Everyone is giving examples of other technologies, but in this case we do have data since the 1960's that has shown solar energy to not be financially feasible in the midwest. That's a fact.
The Chinese are able to produce much cheaper components because of basically slave labor and a lack of environmental regulations.
If and when solar technology becomes a good idea then you'll see plenty of private companies promoting it, just like the space program right now. Solyndra was given hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money and still couldn't create solar panels that were financially feasible in the market.
The chemicals and processes used in creating solar panels are extremely caustic and likely to harm the environment more that most people would like to admit.
robert levy
12:55 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
"but in this case we do have data since the 1960's that has shown solar energy to not be financially feasible in the midwest. That's a fact." Not really... I have friend's with a now, one year old array. At present pace, they expect a 6-7 year return on investment for a system with an 18-22 year life span.
Gert
3:23 pm on Sunday, February 10, 2013
We all know solar can't stand on it's own without heavy government subsidies. It's just another pork barrel. Politicians hand out money to their supporters. Think it's a coincidence that Warren Buffet stands up with Obama to say that he wants to pay more taxes (and we should, too), and Buffet happens to own half the subsidized solar industry?
Same as it ever was.
Olddeegee
2:01 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
Your "facts" are wrong. Solar is an investment, one of many, that is growing in research breakthroughs that are showing huge leaps forward (carbon nano-tube technology most recently). Your accusation of Buffet is a political attack that has been echoed by the right-leaning media because it goes against their far more subsidized corporate oil partners. A larger portion of money can be shifted from the fossil fuel industry to other energy endeavors at a far higher payout, if we follow it up and continue the support. The Bush/Cheney years were a wasted time that could have put us far ahead of our international rivals, but oil was all they cared about so they gutted any programs that supported alternative energies. This is documented fact. That was the waste here, not a limited failure of a few small endeavors.
Gert
6:53 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
^would it be safe to assume that you are trying to ride that subsidized solar gravy train , too?
Barry Allen
5:33 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
The fact is that we don’t know what that $9,400 in annual savings represents.
Is it the difference in a year’s worth of electricity bills before and after?
Is it that difference less the cost of the PV array (spread over its expected lifespan)?
Is it that difference, less array cost, less the cost of money for the investment?
The cost of an installed 95kW PV array (exclusive of government subsidies) is about $522,500, so, until I see some details on where that $9,400 annual savings figure comes from I’m going to doubt that it is a realistic number.
Matilda B
7:04 am on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
I am happy to see that we are doing more study of energy alternatives. It is essential to our country and progress. Information, research and development is worth the investment. I totally support it. Our Earth needs it, our country needs it, and we need it