The innovative system to deploy solar plants the size of a football field in one day

Individual photovoltaic modules capture the energy provided by the sun and convert it into electricity. This could be the definition of “solar panels”, a technology that Spain has given priority to. Since then, diversified designs such as Paper thin solar panel As for One floats on the tank. anyway None of them beat accordion-shaped solar panels. On this occasion, Australia was the country that had years of edge over its competitors in this regard.

Australian off-the-shelf solar panel maker 5B has secured financial backing from giant BP to implement it A technology that promises to install large stretches of solar panels in a matter of minutes With the help of a small group of people.

“Our product is very simple: you attach solar panels with hinges and they pop open.” This is explained in an interview by Chris McGrath, co-founder and CEO of 5B. This “simple” process consists of prefabricated blocks known as Maverick with between 40 and 90 solar panels. from here, Hinges at the ends allow the solar panels to be folded To put it in a container that you will be transporting.

From 5b, they make sure that only three people are needed to post the blocks back and connect them. This human ability “translated” into energy energy will be its sum One megawatt of solar power per week. Although this number is more an estimate than a fact, as it took 10 people to install 1.1 megawatts in one day on a roof the same dimensions as a football field.

capacity of 50,000 megawatts

Australian company So far, it has installed about 60 megawatts of solar power in Europe, America and Asia. Although they expect to exceed 200 megawatts next year and sell 1,000 megawatts, according to data provided by McGrath himself. However, with investment from BP the estimates have been increased. Thus, by the end of the decade, they aim to develop 50,000 megawatts of renewable energy. This amount could provide energy for 15,000 homes per year, considering the average offered by Red Eléctrica de España.

one of Potential applications for these off-the-shelf solar panels could be mining operations, which has a high energy consumption. Especially those far from electricity networks, so you must rely on polluting diesel generators. Each steel-concrete composite beam requires two points of contact with the ground. Along the beam where recycled rubber pads can be used to level out height differences of approximately 100 mm. Its adaptability to terrain is such that it can be carried out on terrain with a slope of 3 to 5 degrees.

Although the main motivation for 5B is none other than decarbonising the planet with its solar panels. This intention may be a little off in Spain, but not so much in this company’s country of origin. And it is that during the week of December 12-18, One of the six states in Australia generated 104.1% of the renewable energy demand.

South Australia managed to reduce its gas imports to 6%. However, the most surprising fact was that They did not have to use coal at any time that week. In the case of wind and solar energy exports, these accounted for 13.7% of total production.

As it could not be otherwise, energy expenditures of this kind meant that the average price per MWh was less than 15 €, when in Spain the range is 52.03 €/MWh and 64.09 €/MWh, depending on today. For their part, 5B ensures that these Off-the-shelf solar panels reduce up to 20% energy cost. This percentage thanks to the east-west layout, which can save up to twice as much energy Single axis horizontal tracker.

Solar panel log

the main – And almost the only requirement – to install a solar panel is that there should be enough hours of sunshine during the day, although there is already Some of them also collect energy at night. For this reason One of the first areas where 5B installed its solar panels is the Atacama Desert.

In the Andean country, 22 Maverick blocks are installed, which, in turn, are part of a total installation of 219 such units. with a total capacity of more than 10 megawatts, The Australian company managed to install everything in one day using just 10 peopleIn doing so, he broke the speed record in installing photovoltaic solar collectors.

[Los usos que no conoces para las placas solares más allá de dar luz a tu casa]

“5B Mavericks are coming Prefabricated and pre-wired, arriving at the site by road transport or by containerThey are unloaded by telescopic handlers or forklifts and the assembly is placed beam by beam following an accordion-like opening pattern on the ground.” This is how the founder of Solar Móvil explained the installation process of the blocks, a Chilean company that collaborated with 5B on the installation.

You may also be interested in:

Follow the topics that interest you