Page 10 - North American Clean Energy March April 2018 Issue

solar power
THE FORD MODEL T WAS THE FIRST CAR TO BE
a ordable for most Americans, thanks to Henry Ford’s revolutionary advancements in standardization. Why not apply that standardization to community-scale solar (CSS)? CSS, also called distribution-scale solar, is de ned as 1–10 MW solar photovoltaic systems connected to the distribution grid. Currently, CSS projects have a $0.20/ Wp (watt-peak) or more premium, compared to utility- scale solar. is is largely due to custom engineering, high mobilization cost for small projects, and low on-site construction productivity. However, if that cost delta can be narrowed, or even erased, CSS can spur a shift from centralized generation and transmission to a distributed energy resource (DER) model.
Last November, Rocky Mountain Institute's (RMI) ShineTM initiative - which aims to enable a largely untapped 30 GW market potential for CSS - held a design charrette comprised of solar industry professionals and outside experts. eir goal was to develop an ultra-low-cost solar product able to operate in a variety of environments, at fully installed costs as low as $0.50/Wp. It started with a whole-system design process, requiring a clean sheet and a beginner’s mind, then coupled a healthy degree of skepticism that there is plenty of
headroom in the solar industry, and, lastly, considered that other great industrialized industries can lend innovation.
e RMI team has been in development of the product
for nearly three years.
ough inspiration was initially taken from Henry Ford’s standardization, the team also looked to prefab
and modular construction,
and pre-engineering of gas turbine power plants. After a lengthy socialization process,
it was decided that CSS is not only ripe for adopting these proven principles, but can also unlock further cost reduction opportunity with nance and business model innovations. CSS, a true “sweet spot” of solar assets, can become the lowest- cost solar generation, period. e name of the charrette,
50 by 20, is a bold vision for CSS that reaches $0.50/Wp turnkey capital costs by 2020, a milestone believed to be a mid- point rather than the end.
50 by 20
Standardizing community-scale solar
by Kareem Dabbagh and Joseph Goodman
Bringing Down Cost through Preassembly
e charrette used RMI's initial product design as a baseline, around which a diverse group of experts could quickly innovate and build commercial aspirations and commitment. Without exception, participants saw standardization and o - site assembly as a strategic necessity. Preassembly of solar packets, or “blocks,” was broadly accepted as not only a possibility, but the next logical step for how solar equipment should be sold and delivered. Furthermore, it was generally agreed that streamlining the supply chain of a pre-engineered o ering, assembled and shipped from an assembly plant, can unlock $0.20/Wp of cost reduction in 2018 alone (give or take a nickel, depending on the market). For example, Figure 1 shows how $0.22/Wp can be eliminated from xed tilt projects.
Figure 1: 2018 fixed-tilt cost reduction, $/Wp
e con guration of each preassembled solar packet will be speci ed according to a cost-optimized regional design for modules, racking, DC wiring, inverters, and storage. Depending on this regional design, packets could be fty feet long and weigh near a US ton, and be deployed as xed-tilt, dual-tilt, or tracking arrays. e packets can be e ciently shipped with atbed trucks and dropped onto site-installed foundations. In a future product vision, packets are installed at a variety of dual-use sites, colocated with agricultural sites, grazing elds, parking lots, community gardens, and common spaces.
While preassembly requires investments in xed assets, and adds marginal shipping and handling costs, the bene ts of shifting system components and assembly from the eld to the factory are manifold. e most signi cant cost reduction is seen in labor. Preassembly can more than double overall labor productivity, while creating reliable jobs in a safe and controlled environment. Other bene ts include reduced warranty and maintenance costs, and reduced project development timelines. Building a regional assembly plant and o ering ultra-low-cost solar will allow for a shift from “pop-up” solar markets to more long-term, regional “pull” markets, laying the foundation for a robust and mature industry. Figure 2 shows a possible schematic of the assembly plant, shipping, and eld installation process.
Power (kW) and Energy (kWh) Meters for Solar
Revenue-Grade and Standard AC Metering
PV Production Metering • Consumption Metering Net Metering • Zero Export Metering Battery Storage Metering
1-888-928-8663 [email protected] www.ctlsys.com
10
MARCH•APRIL2018 /// www.nacleanenergy.com
Figure 2: Assembly plant, shipping, and field installation schematic