Serpa's Photovoltaic Plant

Does the energy input to develop Serpa’s solar power plant outweigh the energy output?

Background

The Serpa Solar power plant is located in southern Portugal – 200km south of Lisbon in the agricultural region of Alentejo. The plant holds 52,000 photovoltaic modules, making it one of the largest solar power plants in the world, generating enough electricity to power up to 8,000 homes. After eight months of construction and testing, GE Energy Financial Services supplied the 11 megawatt power plant on schedule. The facility is a model of clean power generation, located in one of Europe’s sunniest areas (receiving around 3,000 hours of useable sunlight annually). The plant complies with eco-friendly power initiatives, setting both Portugal and Europe on course towards ambitious emission reduction goals.
Generating electricity from the sun with no fuel costs or emissions, it is spread over 150 acres of hillside. The project supports European Union proposals by being able to save more than 30,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions.
Construction of the Serpa project began in June 2006 and was completed in January 2007 – costing approximately US $75 million. The facility consists of a ground-mounted photovoltaic system that uses silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into energy. The main reason why I was interested in researching this technology in particular was due to it’s huge amount of advantages.

The Issue

The aim of this report is to discuss whether the cost and effect of implementing the Serpa plant is worth the overall outcome of power it provides. Is solar power using photovoltaic modules a sustainable technology? Is the technology used able to evolve in the coming years to produce a greater power output? Furthermore, is the technology a trustworthy solution as to solving the problem of finding a renewable energy source that doesn’t produce harmful greenhouse gases which may or may not be causing global warming?

The EU has recently agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020, from 1990 levels. Portugal lacks adequate fuel resources, and large quantities of coal and oil are imported, notably as the electricity sector switches away from oil. The countries carbon dioxide emissions have increased 34 percent since 1990, some of the fastest rates in the world. Therefore, the country is implementing some of the world’s most advanced incentives for installing renewable energy. Solar power benefits from widespread support in Portugal, with backing of 77 percent of the population. (European Commission study 2007).

The solar resource falling on the world’s land surface is a vast potential source of energy, greatly exceeding the world’s current total energy consumption. (As illustrated below)

Photo caption

While solar energy is by its nature a low-density energy, where there are large areas of unused, relatively flat land available it seems practical to capture and use this energy. Using just one-thirtieth of our Earths surface for photovoltaics could cover the worlds total energy consumption.

Political and financial effects of the project

Serpa benefits from Portugal’s feed-in-tariff for PV solar, which typically varies based on project size. The project will sell the electricity it produces for €0.31 (US$0.41) per kWh. Furthermore, the project was awarded a €3.7 million (US$4.9m) grant under the country's Economic Modernisation Program.
The tariff and grant played a key part in the development of the plant, and also contributing to Portugal’s move towards developing a more independent energy mix which currently is dominated by imported natural gas.

Photo caption

The Portuguese government has revised its 2010 renewable power usage targets, aiming to use 45 % of renewable energy sources. Compared to European Union targets of 20 per cent by 2020, the country is setting itself ahead of the game and moving towards independence.

Serpa’s solar plant has many advantages and can be summarized as follows:
• It is easy to find the required land around sunny regions appropriate for the large-scale energy production by photovoltaics;
• The plant is designed to operate with no staff on site. An online system can be used to monitor the output of groups of panels. The dispatch of technicians can be sent as needed for repairs, and maintenance occurs every year;
• The plant distributes its energy well. The plant is able to achieve the economies of scale, but the site is not being overproduced;
• The energy potential from such areas is technically easily sufficient to meet the worlds needs;
• Such installations could proceed in modular fashion, with plant capacity increased as research and engineering progresses;
• Installation was very quick. Taking just 7 months;
• The environmental benefits are significant as, once installed, this is a zero-CO2 technology. Moreover improving air quality;
• The installation could bring socio-economic benefits to this poor area;
• Large-scale plants could have a significant impact on the future of the photovoltaic market by leading to significant cost reductions;
• The panels are 2 meters off the ground - enough for sheep to graze underneath, and to integrate with local agriculture.

Of course, there are also a number of disadvantages at present.
• Such systems need to be able to work in conjunction with a form of energy storage to ensure supply during the hours of darkness;
• The agricultural region of Alentejo is a distance from major population centres, meaning that the transmission of power could become an issue;
• Good project management skills are required to ensure the installations run correctly;
• Even though the project is of a relatively large scale, the amount of jobs it supplies is very low.

Potential effects from a global perspective

The Serpa project is a springboard for other solar power investments.
Success developing the project in southern Europe has resulted in international developers and governments sniffing out similar opportunities. Already, Serpa has also opened the door for other PV solar facilities in Portugal – such as the 62MW Moura plant which is likely to be project financed and is planned for the same region. It is possible to live off of natural occurring resources such as solar energy. However, the cost of solar panels is currently expensive for everyone to install. This is why project giants such as Energy Financial Services play such an important role in the precise construction and maintenance of these large scale developments.

Conclusion

After a lot of research, this brings me back to the original question as to whether the energy input to develop Serpa’s solar power plant outweighs the energy output. Although 11MW may not seem like a vast amount of energy from a global perspective, the technology is proven, and the potential for growth is there for the taking. This sustainable technology has proven facts, it’s totally clean and beneficial to the environment and atmosphere, the energy that the sun emits is free and always readily available. However, the current status of photovoltaic modules will need to be enhanced to provide an optimum level of power output. Once knowledge in the field develops, solar power could be an ever increasing solution to making use of an infinite power source. 10 years from now, I believe solar power will be where wind power technologies are today.

References
11 MW PV Solar Tracking Plant Dedicated. Retrieved 21st December 2007 from http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/03/11_mw_pv_solar_.html#more

Luque, A. & Hegedus, S. (2003). What is photovoltaics? Handbook of photovoltaic science and engineering. (pp.3-24). London: John Wiley and Sons.

Photovoltaics. In Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia. Retrieved November 17th, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics#_note-25

The Bavaria Solar Park: Renewable solar power for Germany. Retrieved 19th November 2007from http://www.sunpowercorp.com/For-Power-Plants/~/media/Downloads/for_powerplants/SPWRBavaria_CS.ashx

Solar Energy. In Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 19th, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy

Iberian Peninsular Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved 03 January 2008 from http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Iberian_Peninsula/Background.html

Energy and Resources - Portugal. Retrieved 03rd January 2008 from earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/ene_cou_620.pdf

John Kjorstad, 02nd April 2007 Serpa Solar: a new era for Portugal's power mix. Retrieved 16 November 2007 from
http://www.geenergyfinancialservices.com/press_room/publications/SerpaSolar_InfrastructureJournal_Apr07.pdf

Portugal energy mix fact sheet. Retrieved 20th December 2007 from http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy_policy/doc/factsheets/mix/mix_pt_en.pdf