Abstract
The capacity factors of the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) energy facilities of California are computed, based on a low-frequency monthly statistic that is covering the last few years. While the best-performing facilities achieve annual capacity factors of about 32-33%, the average annual capacity factor is less than 30%, at about 26-27%. The scattered information on costs suggests a cost penalty of 35% for a capacity factor gain of 10%. Higher frequency data of 1-minute or less for every facility connected to the same grid and the grid average energy supply are needed to define the energy storage indispensable to cover a given demand. The individual facility energy production requires to account for a cost associated with an energy storage allowance to every producer of intermittent and unpredictable electricity, with this amount inversely proportional to the annual average capacity factor and directly proportional to the standard deviation of the high-frequency capacity factors.
Highlights
Solar photovoltaic (PV) is growing rapidly along with its applications in many fields such as desalination, power generation, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
Considering the California Energy Commission is reporting for this facility a nameplate capacity of 240 MW that is incorrect, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports 140 MW nameplate capacity in their Form EIA-860 detailed data with previous form data (EIA-860A/860B) [4], these data must be taken with care
We have shown the monthly capacity factor of some of the latest and largest PV solar power stations in California
Summary
Solar photovoltaic (PV) is growing rapidly along with its applications in many fields such as desalination, power generation, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). Lots of research is conducted to investigate the effect of the geographical location as well as the climatic conditions on the performance of such systems [1,2,3,4,5]. Within the US, solar generation is growing significantly, especially in California. There are presently 32 plants of registered capacity of 100 MW and above, see Table 1. The most part is PV, only a very few are solar thermal. The average capacity factor of solar thermal is 0.25, while the average capacity factor of solar PV is larger at 0.30
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