[HN Gopher] Spnec fast-tracks [?]200B solar farm in Central Luzon
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Spnec fast-tracks [?]200B solar farm in Central Luzon
Author : doener
Score : 84 points
Date : 2024-02-17 10:06 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (businessmirror.com.ph)
(TXT) w3m dump (businessmirror.com.ph)
| bandergirl wrote:
| [?]200B is 11.7 billion USD. That's an insane investment in the
| Philippines, which has a GDP only 35 times bigger.
| hiddencost wrote:
| Wow. 1/20th of their grid volume.
|
| I suppose the cost per kw/h really hit a tipping point for
| them.
| hackerlight wrote:
| That, plus they don't have energy sovereignty. Similar to
| China, they want energy sovereignty and want to derisk from
| global political instability. So they're turning to
| renewables. It's smart. The cost curve pushed the decision
| over the edge.
|
| Also being near the equator, the sun is stable. Countries
| like Denmark who are far from the equator will probably keep
| pursuing wind more aggressively than solar, unless the solar
| cost curve continues down.
| lawgimenez wrote:
| This is correct. I am from the Philippines, we have only
| two types of seasons, sunny and rainy.
|
| But we also have several wind farms operating since early
| 2000s.
| metaphor wrote:
| > _I am from the Philippines, we have only two types of
| seasons, sunny and rainy._
|
| There's a buried third in there: "typhoon season"[1].
|
| I do wonder how they intend to both lean into and protect
| such a massive, fragile investment when all it'll take is
| the debris from a single tropical storm to wreck some
| serious infrastructure carnage, let alone a full-blown
| super typhoon.
|
| [1] https://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/climate/tropical-
| cyclone-info...
| IndrekR wrote:
| PV panels will be protected the same way as buildings.
| Not much difference there. If you can build a house, you
| can build a PV-farm.
| rasz wrote:
| Im not aware of any houses with flat structures sticking
| over the roof being successfully protected from
| hurricanes.
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| Both are popular in Denmark. Denmark has about 3.5GW of
| solar, mostly on people's houses. So, about the same as
| this project is installing. Of course the grid is dominated
| by wind power. Especially offshore wind.
|
| Being further north makes a little bit of difference but
| not as much as people think. Winters are darker, obviously.
| So, that means solar isn't great then. But summers have
| much more daylight. Those long summer days are awesome for
| solar energy. From early morning until late at night
| basically. And obviously, Danish consumers like cutting a
| bit off their electricity bills just like people elsewhere.
|
| Another issue is the angle of the sun. The light loses some
| energy having to pass through more of our atmosphere
| compared to blasting straight down at the equator. But
| otherwise, the difference in distance to the sun is
| negligible.
|
| And of course heat pumps are pretty popular in Denmark as
| well. As are EVs. People that have those, would benefit a
| lot from solar panels.
| standeven wrote:
| Is there seasonal storage in Denmark, so excess solar in
| summer can be used in the winter?
| creshal wrote:
| On the other hand, still much cheaper both to build and operate
| than the equivalent in conventional power plants. But I do
| wonder where all that money is coming from. Foreign investors?
| diggan wrote:
| Seems it was funded by the IPO of "SP New energy Corp"
|
| > Funded by proceeds from its P2.7-billion initial public
| offering, the first 50 megawatts are targeted to start
| delivering power to the grid by the end of 2022, driving
| profitability for the firm - https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/
| money/companies/815990/spnec...
|
| > Mr Leandro Leviste, 28, will seek to raise as much as 2.7
| billion pesos (S$74 million) by selling shares in Solar
| Philippines Nueva Ecija, a unit of his Solar Philippines
| Power Project Holdings. The funds will go towards
| constructing the first phase of a 500MW plant in a province
| about 130km north of Manila -
| https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/a-28-year-
| old-...
|
| Interesting enough, seems the founder initially got the funds
| by selling their Tesla and SolarCity shares:
|
| > Mr Leviste founded Solar Philippines in 2013 after selling
| the shares in Tesla Motors and SolarCity he bought while
| attending Yale University in the United States -
| https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/a-28-year-
| old-...
| lawgimenez wrote:
| SPNEC is owned (bought it from Leviste) by MVP which also
| owned several digital, electric, mining, hospital companies
| here. Totally rich nonetheless.
| diggan wrote:
| Yeah, I imagined. Also guessing Leandro Leviste had help
| to acquire their shares in the first place, as it's not
| super common for people to have funds available for
| stocks when they join university, unless someone help
| them afford it.
| lawgimenez wrote:
| He's the son of one of the largest political clans here
| too. If you know what I mean.
| alephnerd wrote:
| From Batangas right?
| dmurray wrote:
| That accounts for 2.7 billion pesos - a good start but
| hardly a dent in the 200 billion figure.
| anovikov wrote:
| 200B philippine peso is, thank God, 3.58B USD, not 11.7. Looks
| dirt cheap for 3.5GW and a lot of storage too.
| hackerlight wrote:
| $1k USD and you get 1KW of solar and storage. I don't know
| how this compares to alternative grid-scale solutions over a
| ~15-25 year lifetime but that's ballpark how much you'd pay
| for retail solar _without_ the storage.
| oezi wrote:
| 1kwp panels cost <200 USD at the moment.
| pxeger1 wrote:
| So $1k total including installation labour and
| maintenance seems reasonable
| danielheath wrote:
| Sure, but it's not like they mount themselves on a frame,
| or wire themselves in.
| ipsum2 wrote:
| Are there solar farms that are utilizing the space underneath the
| panels for any productive use, like growing plants that need
| shade?
| maltmaster wrote:
| I think not in large scale yet, but there are experiments.
|
| > "Solar panels in a field will necessarily cast a shadow. This
| can be beneficial for some crops, for others not. In Northern
| Europe, agrivoltaic production seems to be suitable for crops
| such as onions, grains, potatoes, and root vegetables, perhaps
| also strawberries or raspberries. In areas where the sunshine
| is more intense, solar panels can reduce evaporation and lay
| the foundation for higher production than otherwise. In
| southern Europe, solar panels can probably be combined with
| vines or olive bushes," says van der Pouw.
|
| https://www.statkraft.com/newsroom/news-and-stories/2022/agr...
|
| https://www.npr.org/2021/11/14/1054942590/solar-energy-color...
| defrost wrote:
| _Solar farm trial shows improved fleece on merino sheep grazed
| under panels_
|
| https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-05-30/solar-farm-graz...
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| If you're keyword foraging, the term for this is 'agrovoltaics'
| IndrekR wrote:
| `agrivoltaics' seems to be common.
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| That is a big topic. There are plenty of farmers doing that.
| Especially further south, a bit of shade is actually helpful to
| protect plants. And farmers get more revenue out of their land
| this way too.
| pandemic_region wrote:
| Interesting, how does harvesting work then? Or they mount the
| panels high enjoy so it's easy to get underneath?
|
| Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrivoltaics It's
| actually more straightforward than I thought.
| konschubert wrote:
| Having sheep graze under solar panels is pretty standard here
| in Germany and it's a win for all sides.
| tpm wrote:
| Yes: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230424-how-
| agrivoltaics...
| xattt wrote:
| Not to be confused with symbol for roubles, [?].
| cbmuser wrote:
| The Philippines are also considering to startup their mothballed
| nuclear power plant.
| metaphor wrote:
| Anyone have an idea of how existing solar farms in the
| Philippines have weathered typhoon season over the past decade?
|
| The country is a proverbial magnet for typhoons, and it seems
| like a major disaster strikes every year; wiki[1] claims half of
| the top 10 deadliest were within the past 2 decades, and the top
| 10 most destructive were all in the past 15 years!
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoons_in_the_Philippines
| lawgimenez wrote:
| I lived here my whole life, I experienced 2 major typhoons
| (almost 40 years old). Not sure if major disaster strikes every
| year is accurate.
|
| Flooding is the primary concern for us during typhoons,
| majority of the lands here are agricultural and mountainous. So
| debris are not a concern.
| ajross wrote:
| Solar arrays are low to the ground and comparatively sturdy
| relative to construction like housing. Are they particularly at
| risk? This seems like an argument you could apply to any
| industry in the coastal tropics. Yet there is industry in the
| coastal tropics nonetheless.
| angiosperm wrote:
| It seems these are going onto existing pastureland, which should
| be able to continue present production.
|
| The Philippines has a great deal of sheltered water that could
| host floatovoltaic installations that can opoerate more
| efficiently than on land.
|
| One of the great advantages of solar is that many small
| installations, close to where power is needed, are better than
| one big one. We may hope they are taking advantage of this
| capability, too often ignored.
| konschubert wrote:
| You can still have sheep grazing under solar panels! They keep
| the grass down and they're happy about the shade.
|
| It's a win for all sides and I've seen it used extensively here
| in Germany.
| cm2187 wrote:
| Doesn't grass need photosynthesis?
| konschubert wrote:
| Grass doesn't need direct sunlight to grow. Since the sun
| moves, only a very small percentage of the area is in
| shadow all day anyways.
|
| I am passing by a solar farm as I am writing this. And The
| grass below and beside the panels looks the same.
|
| Here is a pic I found on the internet:
|
| https://cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Sheep-
| Solar...
| whatshisface wrote:
| But there is no such thing as a free lunch, although the
| grass will transpire less water in a solar farm, it also
| doesn't grow as fast.
| konschubert wrote:
| Maybe. Maybe!
|
| But you get a ton of electricity
| bigbillheck wrote:
| There's a lot of things that go into plant yield, and
| it's not just as simple as "less sunlight, less grass".
| margalabargala wrote:
| There is sufficient indirect light underneath ground mount
| solar that many plants can grow happily. Lots of plants
| prefer shade over direct sun.
|
| This is also why bifacial solar panels are so much more
| efficient.
| swores wrote:
| > _One of the great advantages of solar is that many small
| installations, close to where power is needed, are better than
| one big one._
|
| I'm sure it's definitely true when using the same technology in
| both sides of the comparison (solar panels), but is it so cut
| and dry compared to current and/or future iterations of
| alternatives like this?
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_tower
| pjc50 wrote:
| The cost decreases in solar panels have basically killed all
| the more complicated technologies in favor of Really Big
| Photodiode.
| louwrentius wrote:
| To me, most noteworthy is the 4GWh? Of battery storage.
| cbmuser wrote:
| That's the amount of electricity that the four units at Vogtle
| nuclear power plant produce in one hour.
| louwrentius wrote:
| You try to make the capacity sound small but for battery
| storage it's quite large.
|
| Also, comparing it to nuclear is deliberate ofcourse, but
| nuclear energy has no future.
|
| Wind, solar and battery storage is so insanely cheap, new
| nuclear power plants are not economically viable.
| mrb wrote:
| 200 billion PHP is 3.58 billion USD. The farm is 3500 MW and has
| 4000 MWh of battery storage. As of today 1 Wp (peak watt) of
| mainstream solar panels costs about 0.16 USD [1], and 1 kWh of
| li-ion battery costs about 140 USD [2]. Which means the panels
| alone cost 560M USD, and the batteries also cost 560M USD, so
| combined they represent 31% of the total 3.58B USD budget. It
| seems to be not very cost-efficient, as the overhead for
| everything else (2.46B USD) is quite large: inverters, mounting
| hardware, grid connection, installation, inspection, etc.
|
| Edit: I was basing my "not very cost-efficient" remark on the
| fact that this solar plant is basically $1.00/W however the best
| utility-scale solar plants achieve about $0.80/W, or 20% less.
| However I forgot to account for the fact this plant has
| batteries, so a higher overhead is expected. So, after all, the
| capex is in line with what I'd expect.
|
| [1] https://www.pvxchange.com/Price-Index [2]
| https://about.bnef.com/blog/lithium-ion-battery-pack-prices-...
| bfrog wrote:
| The Philippines are beautiful, though truly all the small motor
| vehicles going 15-20MPh everywhere are a bit ridiculous and
| especially in Manila choke out the air.
|
| It's awesome they are building solar. Soon hopefully lots of
| small electrics or even more bicycles take the place of the
| jeepneys, trikes, and motorbikes. The motor traffic was about the
| worst part of being there. The countryside is beautiful.
| kiba wrote:
| The motor traffic will still be bad, just less polluting.
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