[Energy Conversion Device's] UNI-Solar thin-film flexible solar laminates will be installed this fall at a 2,000-square foot car plant in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain.
The rooftop system will have about 85,000 solar panels and peak capacity of 12 megawatts — enough electricity to power 4,575 homes, GM said.
A 2,000 sq ft car plant would be about the size of my house, which would be utterly incapable of supporting 12MW of power in rooftop SPV. Car plants are more typically the size of N football fields and 12MW of power would also require a few football fields of rooftop space.
I agree.. didn't really notice it said sq ft.. Probably a conversion error. I have been unable to find any other story quoting the actual size of the plant
A 2,000,000 sq ft interception area would give 185 MW of peak solar power. Getting a 12 MW of peak PV power meant that they are just about 6.5% overall efficient. This is very realistic, considering that the cheap thin film are just about 10% efficient. But during installation and layout, not every area can be covered, you would have to allow spaces for foot traffic or maintenance vehicles in between groups of panels.
How about GM would compensate by installing solar power for each Volt produced. All they needed is just about 2 kW peak power to fully recharge the Volt daily with 8 kWH of energy for the 40 mile daily commute (assuming 5 hours equivalent perpendicular sunshine and 83% PV to recharger efficiency). So 10,000 Volt produced the first year, they needed to install 20 MW of solar PV. For 100,000 cars, they needed a 200 MW solar thermal plant installed. Then after that, they should only maintain the solar power plants equivalent to the number of Volts in active operation. That way, they would be introducing the Volt with complete energy independence in an almost infinitely self-sustaining way. Just a dream, and dreams are free.
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