Got fossil fuels???

[ColevilleH2S]

Dispatcho....not very accurate.

Brooks BSC1 has produced 64,800,500 Kwh till the end of 2020.

Is that since inception? If so it only feeds about a 1/2 to 3/4ths of a million dollars a year into the grid. Not much when you consider it cost $30M to build.

Heck even if that's just 2020, that's still only $2.5M/year.

[TASFarms]

Oil company around kinderlsey is buying Bitcoin miners at $25000 a piece and making that in 6 months. Using the excess natural gas. That’s a lot better return than solar. Solar is Hoping that in 10 years that it made enough to cover the cost, with the help of tax payer money. No tax payer money going into Bitcoin miners needed.

[shtferbrains]

The one I find most interesting is (SUF1) Suffield.

Currently producing 20 of 23 MW. Not sure if they are tilted/following panels, but they are about the only one that seems to reliably produce output. Brooks is a joke!

Capacity Factors over last 30 days:
(BSC1)Brooks: 3.8%
(VXH1)Vauxhall: 4.8%
(INF1)Innisfail: 5.3%
(HUL1)Vauxhall: 6.0%
(SUF1)Suffield: 11.3%

Suffield production marketed by Bullfrog Power.
If you want geen power you pay your regular bill but sign up with them and they put "Vitual Power' into the grid and send you a bill for the exta charge for the virtuous power you want to buy.
Made my head spin trying to figure out how all thier dinky little projects can be profitable.
New green economy.
Reminds me of the WE water wells.

[Taiga]

Jet B to the rescue.

[farming101]

Is that since inception? If so it only feeds about a 1/2 to 3/4ths of a million dollars a year into the grid. Not much when you consider it cost $30M to build.

Heck even if that's just 2020, that's still only $2.5M/year.

Dec 14, 2017 start. What value are you putting on electricity produced?
They were installed at a 25 degree position. To my thinking,(and what do I know?) it seems too low. 34-39 degrees would increase the season length with some shading likely at lower winter solar angle. But if they're full of snow what good is it?
It was forecast to put out 24,000 MWH/yr. Coming in around 21,250

[oneoff]

The snow and ice should melt off once temperatures recover. I brush mine off regularly. If they are leaving snow and ice on all winter that will reduce production a lot.

The angle is too low for winter compared to mine. That will also reduce wintertime production. Some arrays can easily adjust the angle seasonally

According to Dispatcho the Brooks solar site has made 46.26 Gwh of electricity since it was built.

Take a look at Dispatcho for yourself.

https://www.dispatcho.app/live/BSC1?r=76782840 https://www.dispatcho.app/live/BSC1?r=76782840

Yup solar still needs complete backup. But when the sun is shining what solar produces can be matched to load requirements which displaces grid supply. Wasn't there some irrigation farmers in Alberta who installed solar to offset some of their high electricity costs.

And when one looks at Dispatcho and the 15MW installed Brooks BCS1 site they find a grid connection date of Dec 5/2017. No production was recorded until approx 8 months later; ie Sept 10/2018.

Since then some obvious pattern have emerged within the reported 46.26 Gwh of productions. If the years is divided into a "winter period" lasting from beginning of October to the end of February (five months"....and a "summer period" of the remaining 7 months (Mar 1 to Sept 30) it yields pretty clear results. These figures are taken from the Dispatcho data and the few days production here and there that don't seem fair; help out the dismal "winter production data" periods

from 09/10/2018 to 02/28/19 3.925 GWh production
03/01/19 to 09/30/19 17.48 GWh produced
from 10/01/19 to 03/01/20 4.0001 GWh reported
from 03/01/20 to 09/30/20 18.15GWh
from 09/30/20 to today 2.744Gwh

That all adds up to grand total reported production of 46.30 GWh which should be agreed is plenty close enough to everyone's 46.26 GWh

With those facts agreed to...the analysis can begin.

There is none of this solar energy available to charge electric vehicles; or service any consumer needs after about 4:00pm to close to next morning beginning close to 11:00am for December and January.
It improve somewhat on either side of the Dec-Jan period; albiet intermittently. Even in the "Summer period" solar panels can't produce during what is known as nightime.. Of course that contributes greatly to the shortfall of boiler plates rating of 15 MWatts of solar panel capacity that operated for some two years and 5 months (aka as 2 and 5/12 yrs. or about 20880 hours). With continuous production I calculate that should be 313.2GWh and as previously shown only 46.26GWh ever produced.

But 15 MW boiler plate is more impressive to some. Design everything for the maximum and settle for a slim fraction of that amount. AND Bill to the utility and customer and take credit for supposedly how cheaply the solar power is produced.

And sure the ice and snow will melt off eventually and surely it makes no sense to sweep off acres of panels; and adding actuators to follow the sun add costs and complications that make no practical or economic sense in real situations.

And you bet that solar requires backup; and you bet that despite the flaws and strains on present utility grids; intermittent electrical generation is largely getting a free ride.
Give the steering wheel back to the experienced driver until these usurpers can prove their worth

[seldomseen]

You must not be on Twitter Chuck. Almost every tweet is about solar and wind collapsing all across the Northern Hemisphere from unrelenting cold and snow!

[chuckChuck]

Why not let Saskpower and the AESO decide how many renewables they can safely operate? But perhaps some posters on Agriville think they are smarter than the system operators?

[TASFarms]

Why not let Saskpower and the AESO decide how many renewables they can safely operate? But perhaps some posters on Agriville think they are smarter than the system operators?

Let’s not spend tax payer money on these scams. They need to pull there own weight. If there is no money in it at the start, there never will be.

[rumrocks]

Chuck, system operators sometimes can't see the forest for the trees.

I think back to the manufacturer who had a problem with empty boxes coming off the end of the assembly line without their product inside, which caused problems for customers. Management paid engineers to find a solution to the problem, but nothing seemed to work consistently. It took a young kid to figure out that a fan sitting on a chair would blow the empty boxes off the line.
And I know Chuck will say the cause of the problem wasn't addressed, but that may have been a cost analysis decision.
And no Chuck I'm not comparing anyone on here to a young kid.
I don't even know if that is a true story but it's an example of vision and treed areas.

[jazz]

SaskPower clearly admits on its website that solar generation is just a virtue signal exercise.

Costs will need to fall by another 50% or efficiecy double to make this viable anywhere on the prairies and most of Canada will never be economical.

A farm connected system will likely never pay itself back as the equipment will be obsolete before that time.

[fjlip]

Another example of fixing something not BROKE.