Solar photovoltaic power plant
- Power Plants
- Solar photovoltaic power plant
Solar thermal power plant
The operation of a solar photovoltaic plant is based on photons and light energy from the sun’s rays. The types of solar panels used in these types of facilities are also different. While solar thermal plants use collectors, photovoltaic power plant use panels consisting of photovoltaic solar cells made of silicon (monocrystalline or polycrystalline solar panels) or other materials with photovoltaic properties (amorphous solar panels).
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How do these solar cells work?
Thanks to the materials they are made of, when the sun’s rays strike them directly, the electrons contained in the more external layers of the photovoltaic cells absorb the radiation and generate direct current electricity. To build a solar photovoltaic plant, these solar cells are connected in series to be integrated into a single module, forming photovoltaic panels.
In turn, the solar panels are connected in parallel, forming strings coupled to a current inverter, where the direct current coming from the photovoltaic cells is transformed into alternating energy. Then the electricity is directed to a transformer in which its voltage and intensity are adapted so that it can be transported through the electrical grid lines to the consumption centers.
To optimize its operation, the photovolatic power plant also has a weather tower, which analyzes the environmental conditions to identify the solar radiation intensity and its short-term evolution, as well as informing of the exact sunset time. Therefore, it’s possible to predict the periods with shortage of light and store the energy needed to guarantee the electrical supply.
In addition to conventional solar plants, photovoltaic systems installed on the roofs of buildings known as solar communities, which generate electricity for self-consumption and reduce energy costs, or solar farms, are two great examples of solar photovoltaic power plants.
At Repsol, we have several photovoltaic projects:
- Our photovoltaic complex called Kappa, in the town of Manzanares in Ciudad Real, which manages to supply electricity to 71,000 homes.
- Valdesolar, located in Badajoz, our biggest photovoltaic plant in Spain, capable of supplying electricity to 140,000 homes.
- Sigma, in Cadiz, with a production capacity of 204 MW.
- Jicarilla 2, our first photovoltaic plant in the United States, in the state of New Mexico, with a capacity of 65.2 MW.