Silver Anniversary For Solar Plant
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District's (SMUD) one-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant located at the Rancho Seco site celebrated 25 years of service this summer. The plant, known as PV1, first started producing power in 1984 and at the time was one of the largest PV plants in the world - supplying enough electricity to serve approximately 800 homes. Today the plant is the oldest MW-scale PV plant continuously operating in North America and continues turning sunlight into reliable, clean energy.
A recent comprehensive system test concluded that the plant is yielding 67 percent of its original capacity. Since operation at the plant began, the system has generated approximately 37 gigawatt hours of electrical energy, offsetting 19 million pounds of CO2 emissions, 5,900 pounds of SO2 emissions and 16,500 pounds of NOx emissions. Since constructing PV1, SMUD has built five additional PV plants on the property with a combined capacity of 3.2 megawatts. PV1 and the five adjacent plants have provided a clean, reliable energy source for many years. SMUD plans to continue generating solar energy at the location well into the future.
PV1 occupies 10 acres and includes 28,672 Arco M52-N modules in a single axis-tracking configuration. The modules are assembled in 896 panels that are aligned north-south. At sunrise, the trackers align the panels at a 45-degree angle to the east. The trackers follow the sun across the sky from three hours before solar noon until three hours afterward, making a three-degree movement every 12 minutes.
SMUD is on track to become the first large California utility to receive 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources. Through its Renewable Portfolio Standard, SMUD has committed to increase the renewable portion of deliveries, including green power customers, to 23 percent by 2010 and 37 percent by 2020.
