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Tesla Runs an Entire Island on Solar Power (engadget.com)
Jon Fingas, writing for Engadget:Now that Tesla has officially acquired SolarCity, it's not wasting any time showing what the combined entity can do. Tesla has revealed that it's running the island of Ta'u (in American Samoa) on a solar energy microgrid that, at 1.4 megawatts, can cover "nearly 100 percent" of electrical needs. It's not just the 5,328 solar panels that are key -- it's the 60 Tesla Powerpacks that offer 6 megawatt-hours of energy storage. While Ta'u is normally very sunny, the packs can keep it running for three days without sunlight. They don't have to worry about a cloudy day leading to blackouts. The solar switch, which took a year to complete, has both its long-term environmental and immediate practical benefits. Like many remote communities, Ta'u previously had to run on diesel generators. That burns 300 gallons of fuel per day, which is neither eco-friendly nor cheap. Solar eliminates the pollution, of course, but it also saves the cost of having to continuously buy and ship barrels of diesel. And crucially, it provides a more reliable source of electricity.
I remember seeing the particular island, or a similar in some television program a while ago. The cost of shipped diesel fuel was insane. They were working on the full solar solution already then.
In case it gets cloudy for more than 3 days.
No sir I dont like it.
As indicated, shipping fossil fuel has high costs, and operation is noisy. Sunlight works even on cloudy days, and you can run desalination plants using solar, and it withstands weather effects fairly well.
Many islands operate with a hybrid solar and wind system, especially in equatorial regions.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
How much did 1.4MW and 60 battery units cost? What is the buyback period compared to burning 300 gallons of diesel per day?
The summary is I think a bit misleading in saying how expensive the fuel is, while not giving any figures for how much the solar panels plus battery cost... I would love to know how much diesel all of that money could buy...
That said there are a lot of fantastic benefits of being totally independent for energy and not having to rely on fuel shipments and being immune to price fluctuations, so you can't just look at the monetary cost and say it's not worth doing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
While the idea of a sunny Pacific island may seem like an easy and ideal place for solar power, this may not be the case.
When I worked for NOAA, I heard wild stories about how the molds in Samoa would destroy our scientific instruments. They would even eat glass... This should prove an interesting and challenging situation.
Solar and wind are militarily strategically wise because centralized power plants and transmission lines are primary targets in war: these technologies obviate those targets.
massive solar plants combined with massive desalination plants. Sadly it looks like it's just time for more tickle down economics. I'm really not looking forward to all the money that's about to get repatriated. There was an article on cnn with a whole mess of CEOs salivating over all the Mergers and Acquisitions they're gonna do. I wouldn't care if ever round of M&A didn't end in massive layoffs...
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the upfront cost is big and will take a while to cover get a cost saving. its an investment that you no longer have to maintaing with oil. there is still maintnance cost with both systems but i agree its a good alternitive but the upfront cost is large and you no longer need to be dependant on a regular supply of oil not to mention the eco benefites
... until the batteries in the power packs need to be replaced, and at what cost? Once you factor in the long-term battery costs, solar can become more expensive than more traditional energy sources.
He has already backed off prosecuting Hillary, how many more statements will he back off of?
Now all he needs is a monocle.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Assuming @ $300.00 per panel that's $1,864,800, $1,332,00 for the micro inverters, $420k for the Tesla Power packs, $800k for the power distribution substation ... I'm guessing of course. $5mil project ?
I could go for 1.5kw of panels for my home and one Tesla Powerpack. How much would that cost ?
I do not want to have SolarCity/Tesla to own my panels.. I want to buy them outright.
Who runs Bartertown?
It'd be a real shame if Ta'u can't keep up the payments to Solar City and their power controllers all stopped working at the same time.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
This is the perfect proof of concept that Musk is aligning all the pieces needed for Mars Base 1.
SolarCity for the energy collection
Tesla for the storage and local transportation
SpaceX for the "long haul" to/from Mars, as an umbrella for the expedition and for the environmental pieces (habitat design, space suits).
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Since not all "entire islands" are created equal, I used Wikipedia so you do not have to.
"The land area of Tau Island is 44.31 square kilometers (17.11 sq mi) and it had a population of 873 persons as of the 2000 census.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
So Solar City has figured out how to make solar panels and batteries which will last forever? That's amazing!
#DeleteChrome
That part of the world has very reliable trade winds. One wind turbine could generate several times as much power and would probably cost much less.
Shall we talk about the strip mining that is done for coal in the US or the strip mining used to extract from the tar sands in Alberta?
At least the lithium can be recycled into new batteries once they fail.
> Solar eliminates the pollution, of course
Except for the pollution from mining the rare earth metals, and the whole solar manufacturing process.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Oh yes it was probably a terrorist supporting, USA hating, oil rich and polluting third-world country so that makes it better?
You should be thanking Panasonic as Tesla are just their salesmen, even their GigaFactory is paid for with Panasonic cash.
basically SolarCity make stickers and have a bunch of contractors to fit them on the roof, maybe the contractors should just skip the "innovative" middle men and buy them direct, you know, cut out the inefficiencies and all that..
Is this what Musk, Tesla, Solar City, etc. have come to.
From Wikipedia:
Ta'u has a land mass of roughly 17 sq. miles (44 sq. kilometers), with a maximum length of roughly 6.2 miles.
Ta'u has a population of roughly 873 people.
Seriously! Powering the *whole* island with solar! Why I never!
This seems like a place where the vast majority of people could *walk* where they need to go. For those few that can't, a bicycle (or even a moped) would be more than adequate.
You could probably buy this island for the price of a Telsa - lol.
Yet another example of 'fake news' that needs to be stomped out.
In remote areas where there is no existing grid infrastructure Solar is already cost competitive. Many parts of India which are off the grid are running on a mix of Solar and Biogas plants(basically farm waste and cow shit in a sealed tank with a pipe to draw out the methane). An Island where fuel needs to be shipped in is ideal for Solar and wind as it gets rid of the uncertainty of the fuel ship being delayed by a storm. However the locals need to be trained to fix the solar panels and batteries themselves (as in swap in replacements) and enough replacemnts need to be kept on the island otherwise you are swapping one set of dependencies for another.
Interestingly renewables may have a brighter future in areas which are fast industrializing like China and India than in already industrialized nations like USA. In the newly industrializing countries there are fewer sunk costs in an infratructure based on fossil fuels so there is less resistance to leapfrogging fossil fuels and going directly to renewables. Its like how India had mobile phones take off blindingly fast because the fixed line infrastructure was way underdeveloped while USA is still behind in mobile commerce or mobile payments (Apple Pay is 1990s technology from Japan but seems so futuristic int he US)
As India and China are both industrializing and need huge amounts of power they are not going to choose between clean coal, gas and renewables. They are going to develop everything at full speed and in certain areas solar is going to win based upon the local geography. This means their is a clear cut future for solar which is not dependent on subsidies making it cheaper than conventioanl power plants. China is already the world leader in Solar panels and India's Suzlon is one of the world leaders in Wind Turbines.
While Global Warming may or may not be a bad thing;( Russians and Canadians would definitely welcome a warmer world); the move to renewables still makes sense for a country like India which has little oil and imports most of it. In fact if not for Oil and Gold imports India has a positive balance of trade with the world.
**Life is too short to be serious**
Orkney, a group of islands of the north coast of the UK is apparently now self sufficient in electricity from wind turbines. Yes we still have a diesel fired power station in case of problems and an undersea link to the UK national grid.
This is the future - solar, wind, whatever, not filthy fossil power pushed by some bad tempered businessman with dodgy hair.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Filthy Space marines wouldn't. They would have been brainwashed into beliving in "clean coal" or some other such nonsense.
Another evil genius builds a secret lair on an island under a volcano.
Have gnu, will travel.
If the fuel costs $4/gallon with delivery, that is about $500,000 for fuel per generator. They are pretty sketchy with the details, but assuming they only need one generator at a time. The setup 1.4MW at $6-9/W is a $10-15 Million dollar system. So 20 to 30 times the annual fuel cost. And that doesn't include the battery packs. A system like this would never be cost effective. Assuming they could get it for 5% loan, the initial investment would NEVER go away. So unless the cost of solar + batteries can drop to $1-3/W, this is just a rich person's toy.
Who ever generates the power on the Island has a monopoly, it is simply to small to have a "competitive" market, so the real question is do the consumers pay more or less for their power now? and if they pay less now will they continue to pay less going forward?
"Rare earth" means a specific set of chemical elements, not just whatever you think sounds exotic.
Specifically:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element
None of the elements you named are "rare earths." "Rare earths", also known as "lanthanides" (this is undoubtedly a better name for them anyway) are used mostly in high strength MAGNETS, not solar cells.
Jesus, is there anyone with a science education on this website anymore?
So each Powerball is 100kWhs? When did Tesla start making city sized storage units?
If you look at energy consumption in states like California, the demand hits well over a quarter million gigawatt/hours. This demand is only going up, not down. Elon is doing what Elon does best - proving that it only works on a very small scale.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.