Tesla Plans to Build a Gigantic Solar Farm To Replace 1.6M Gallons of Fuel a Year

Renewable energy sources, especially solar power, has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, the world has doubled its solar capacity to 305 gigawatts in 2016, with the United States and China leading the race, according to a report by SolarPower Europe.

China is the largest producer of solar energy in the world, with its solar capacity having doubled in 2016 from what it was the year before. Collectively, the country generates up to 77.42 gigawatts of solar energy, which can then be converted to 66.2 billion kilowatt-hours of power. The US is also following this trend, rising from 7.3 Gigawatts in 2015 to 14 Gigawatts in 2016, with some of its states showing an outstanding growth (like New York, which has increased its use of solar power by up to 800%).

The probable main reason as to why Solar Power has risen over the past couple of years is probably because of a big global drop in the price it takes to install solar. The price has dropped up to 58% worldwide, says The Climate Council. However, there’s still 1 issue when it comes to solar power: What do you do if there’s no sunlight. Now, Tesla is attempting to solve this problem by building a large solar farm in Kauai, Hawaii.

Source: The Verge

The island of Kauai, with its bright and sunny tropical climate, is an ideal place for harvesting solar energy. When the night falls, however, they are forced to convert back into using fossil fuel energy until the morning comes the next day. Tesla hopes to keep these solar generators working all night by not only creating a massive solar farm, but by also including an energy storage plant within it, which will allow some of the solar energy collected to be stored and used by nightfall. The Kauai plant, which was commissioned by the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), will include a 13 megawatt SolarCity solar farm and a 52 megawatt-hour battery installation. The solar farm is estimated to save up to 1.6 Million gallons of fossil fuels per year.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fkQBVoS9lAo%3Fecver%3D1

Source: Youtube, Tesla

On a side note, the KIUC didn’t exactly buy the solar panels and its battery system from Tesla. Instead, they signed a 20-year contract that states that they would buy solar-generated power for 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour. This opens up the opportunity for Tesla to move on to a power generating and selling business, and it is likely that there will be more companies/organizations to approach Tesla with a deal similar to the KIUC contract. “We plan to work with energy providers around the world seeking to overcome barriers in the way of building a sustainable, renewable energy grid of their own.”, says Tesla in a statement with SolarCity.

Article Sources:

Futurism

The Verge