SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A couple of years ago the Ukraine was looking for investors to help build a renewable energy power plant inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. On October 5th, about 100 meters (330 feet) from the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Solar Chernobyl flipped the switch on their 1MW facility:
This first stage occupies about 4 acres, and authorities have offered over 6,000 acres (about 10 square miles) for solar farms. Ultimately, as much as 100 MW of solar power could be constructed. The area is already well set up with connections to the power grid. The four nuclear reactors could produce up to 4,000 MW.
Two previous solar-energy farms—with 82 and 100 MW capacity—were built in the Crimea region of Ukraine, which has been annexed by Russia, cutting off Ukraine's supply. Russia and Ukraine have long-running disputes over natural-gas supplies that are so extensive, there's a Wikipedia page devoted to them. Ukraine still relies on Russian[sic] for nuclear fuel for other power plants, and for coal, which remains a significant energy source in the country.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Monday October 08 2018, @05:03AM (6 children)
You have a region that isn't exactly human friendly, and solar is mostly hands off after installation. And as the summary states, the electrical infrastructure is large enough to handle the 4000MW nuclear plant which is not operational anymore (fun fact: while reactor 4 was destroyed, reactors 1, 2, and 3 kept operating until 1996, 1991, and 2000 respectively).
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @05:12AM
Seems to me it's better suited to a new nuclear reactor. There wouldn't be anyone around to be effected by a second meltdown, and I doubt it would come to that, considering the post soviet nuclear designs.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 08 2018, @08:26AM
On the plus side, the panels will generate energy at night too, from increased background.radiation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @08:42AM (3 children)
Except for the guy scrubbing off the pigeon shit off the panels every morning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @12:09PM (2 children)
Panels should be installed at angle so that they are cleaned by rain. The glass on them should be coated such that nothing sticks to it, certainly not after a healthy dose of rain.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday October 08 2018, @04:32PM (1 child)
We keep inventing better coatings, but we can never catch up with pigeon R&D.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @06:12PM
There are transparent superhydrophobic surface coatings available now, but they are prohibitively expensive ($10 per panel or more) or have bad abrasion and weathering properties (recoating every few months). But it is also worth noting that there are also opaque or semi-translucent superhydrophobic coatings available on the market that could cover a standard sized solar panel for literal cents and would without having to recoat the panels for a decade or longer. It is only a matter of time before the scale makes it a standard part of all solar panels manufactured.