Sun shines on New York solar energy boom [math illiterates think 1.6 MW is a lot]

yahoo.com/AFP ^ | February 23, 2014 | Brigitte Dusseau

[grundle]

New York (AFP) - On a rooftop in the Bronx far from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, 4,760 panels soak up the winter rays. Welcome to the solar power boom in New York state.

Robert Kline, director of commercial sales for the Ross Solar Group that installed the panels, is delighted.

"It is the largest (solar) installation in the history of New York City," he tells AFP.

The 1.6-megawatt installation on the Jetro Cash and Carry has been proudly singled out by New York governor Andrew Cuomo as a prime example of a drive to haul the state into a new dawn.

[biff]

How much time is lost due to rain, clouds, snow, nights and of course winter sun when it is low on the horizon?

Who get to wipe the dust off and how many feet of snow per year will need to be cleaned off?

10-15% productivity????

[gfbtbb]

I just love the way you put that in perspective.

[musicman]

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[Ray76]

NYC gets about 4kwh/m2/day for a tilt=latitude photovoltaic collector. These collectors are flat. NYC is about 41N.

http://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/map_pv_national_lo-res.jpg

[Ray76]

photo of installation

http://tdworld.com/renewables/con-edison-customer-installs-nycs-largest-solar-array

write up by equipment supplier (photo not NY, but SF)

http://newsroom.sunpower.com/2013-12-09-Ross-Solar-Group-Completes-New-York-Citys-Largest-Rooftop-Solar-Power-System

[stylin19a]

took forever to find it

The $50 million construction project was facilitated by up to $21 million in tax incentives approved by the New York City IDA. The tax incentives helped create and retain nearly 200 jobs which might otherwise have been relocated to a lower cost location in New Jersey.

Jetro Cash & Carry will "save" about $200,000 a year in electric costs.....what a great flippin deal. Break-even takes place after the world ends.

[norwaypinesavage]

Here in south Texas, where the sun actually shines a bit, a typical “sustainable” solar house might have about 36 kilowatts of solar panels. The NY panels bragged about in this article would thus be the same as about 44 houses. These “sustainable” houses, though, are anything BUT sustainable. They use the grid as a large storage battery, selling the power to the grid (at subsidized rates) the few times they supply more than they use, and buying from the grid the rest of the time. The “rest of the time” happens to be “most of the time”. All of the rest of the time, it’s that dirty coal and oil that keep the lights on.

[biff]

Exactly, our windmills here in Texas(the last I heard) have about 5% productivity.

[grundle]

Thanks for the links in post 25.