Design of a 100 MW solar power plant on wetland in Bangladesh

Abstract

World-wide a small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) system is increasingly becoming a popular power source for domestic application. In contrast, large-scale solar power plants are of growing interest for commercial, industrial and community users as an alternative to fossil fuel-driven power plants. Despite the growing interest, scant information on large-scale solar power generation especially in rural and inaccessible locations is available in the public domain. Hence, the primary objective of this study is to design a large-scale (100 MW) solar power plant for wetland areas in Bangladesh. For the 100 MW power plant, a total of 166,670 solar modules (each of which is 2,070mm long, 1,390 mm wide and 45mm thick with 600 W power capacity) have been used. To generate 100 MW electricity (power), around 303 acres (approximately 123 hectares) of the wetland is required keeping the distance of 2.35 m between every two adjacent solar panel mounting rows. A total of six hundred and seventy (670) three-phase grid-tie inverters (GTI) and 40 transformers have been connected to the solar panel. Along with the renewable electricity production, the required wetland (123 hectares) located under the solar panels has been considered for permanent sanctuary to conserve the indigenous fish species. The challenges and risk factors of the 100 MW plant have also been elaborated.