During daylight hours, solar panels generate electrical energy. With the help of a charge controller, this electrical energy is accumulated in batteries and used to power electrical consumers (devices and devices). Since solar panels generate direct current, an inverter is used to convert direct current to alternating current. In the event of an increased consumption of electrical energy or prolonged cloudy weather, the electrical energy produced by solar panels and stored in rechargeable batteries may not be enough. Then the solar battery system for supplying electricity to a private house or business can automatically switch to a backup source of electrical energy (utility grid, gasoline or diesel generator).

Benefits of solar panels:

Durability. The resource of the solar panel is not limited, the resource of the charge controller is not limited, the battery life at 30% discharge is about 1200 cycles - 8 years or more.

Automatic work. The solar-powered power supply system does not require user attention and is fully automatic.

Maintenance free. The solar power supply system does not require periodic maintenance of the battery, controller, solar panel and inverter.

Versatility. The system allows you to connect almost any electrical devices of alternating current 220V, 50Hz.

To calculate the power that this system can generate, you need to know: the maximum load power and power consumption per day (month, year or hour and for how long).

Solar panels (solar power plants) can work to add power. This is very important in cases where there are restrictions at the customer's site or there is simply not enough electricity.

MAKE A CHOICE:

Crimean "Perovo" is the 4th largest power plant in the world.

Perovo is a solar power plant with a total capacity of 105.56 megawatts (MW) near the village of Klyuchi, Perovsky village council in Crimea.
Thus, according to this indicator, it surpassed the Sarnia solar park in Canada (97.5 MW) and can be called the world's largest solar power plant.

The power plant consists of 440,000 crystalline solar photovoltaic modules connected by 1,500 km of cable and installed on more than 200 hectares (covering approximately 259 football fields). The plant can produce 132,500 MWh of clean electricity per year, which is enough to meet the planned peak electricity demand of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. The station can reduce CO2 emissions by 105 thousand tons per year. Built by the Austrian company Activ Solar.

The solar power plants built by Activ Solar on the Crimean peninsula, the Rodnikovoye, Okhotnikovo, Perovo and Mityaevo stations, now reach 215 MW of capacity (the republic's need for electricity is about 1200 MW).
At the same time, the Okhotnikovo power plant (Saki district, peak power - 80 MW) was included in the five largest in the world and was considered the largest in Central and Eastern Europe.

But this is not the first station that was built in the Crimea in the city of Shchelkino, a tower-type solar power plant was built as a backup source of electricity for the nuclear power plant planned there. But by and large, this station was experimental: its capacity is 5 MW. Many difficulties were identified during the operation of this station. One of them - the reflector positioning system almost completely (95%) consumed the energy generated by the station. There were also difficulties in cleaning the mirrors. Soon this station ceased to exist and was plundered.

The project of the first in the USSR Crimean SES (solar power plant) was created in the early 80s in the Riga branch of the Institute "Atomteploelektroproekt" with the participation of thirteen other design organizations of the Ministry of Energy and Electrification of the USSR. Scientific guidance was provided by the Energy Institute named after G.M. Krzhizhanovsky Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

SES-5 was conceived as an experimental station, the main purpose of which is to find out the peculiarities of the operation of specific equipment used in the operation of the power plant, to gain experience in operating all plant systems, to identify the shortcomings of the circuit and individual elements of the equipment and to be able to reconstruct imperfect systems in the process of mastering SES-5 ...

The concept of a tower-type structure used in SES-5 was first put forward by the Institute. G.M. Krzhizhanovsky back in the 50s.

The design of SES-5 consisted of a concentrator - a field of solar heliostats, a solar steam generator, a turbine, a generator, an automatic tracking system for the Sun and a heat storage system.

SPP tower after completion of construction

In the center of a large field, with a diameter of 500 meters, there was a tower 89 meters high, in the upper part of which there was a steam boiler. The tower was surrounded by a field of heliostats - mirrored reflectors, each with an area of ​​25 square meters. Each heliostat, and there were 1,600 of them in total, was equipped with electric drives for anti-aircraft and azimuth rotation. The computer controlling the operation with the help of electric drives corrected the position of the heliostats in such a way that at any moment in time all the reflected sun rays were directed strictly towards the boiler.

After heating the water in the boiler using mirrors that focused the solar radiation on it, steam from the boiler was supplied to the turbine, which rotated the generator rotor. So solar energy was converted into electrical energy. The turbine and generator were on the ground in a special room. Another part of the power plant was a heat accumulator, consisting of two tanks for a high-temperature steam-water mixture, with a volume of 1000 cubic meters each. In case of bad weather, when the Sun is hidden behind clouds or at night, he was able to provide the station operation at standard power for 3-4 hours, plus about 10 more hours in reduced power mode (about 50%).
The design capacity of the station was 5 MW. The first Soviet nuclear power plant had the same capacity.

For reference. The total installed capacity of all solar power plants in the world at that time was 21 MW.

The first trial connection of the generator of the SES-5 station to the grid took place in September 1985. At that time, 420 heliostats were in operation.

The station was fully commissioned in 1986. The total cost of construction of SPP-5 was about 29 million rubles.

Before the shutdown in the early 90s, the solar power plant generated about 2 million kWh of electricity.

After the start of operation of SPP-5, the Ministry of Energy developed a project for the construction of a combined industrial solar-fuel power plant with a capacity of 320 MW. The place for it was chosen in Uzbekistan, in the Karshi steppe, near the city of Talimarjan. Such a power plant turned out to be much more economical than conventional thermal power plants.

Together with Crimea, Russia captured a lot of things on the peninsula, including five solar-powered power plants (SPP): Perovo, Rodnikovo, Nikolaevka in the Simferopol region, and Okhotnikovo and Mityaevo in the Saki region.

Solar power station "Perovo" (105.56 MW). At the time of creation, the fourth in the world in terms of power,
sufficient to meet the needs of Simferopol

Who is the owner of these SES is officially unknown, although the Ukrainian media confidently called the name of the former Deputy Prime Minister of the country Andriy Klyuev. The developer (a company engaged in the construction of solar power plants and maintenance of production processes) was the Austrian Activ Solar, an international group of companies specializing in the development and production of solar technologies.

Solar power plant "Okhotnikovo" (82.65 MW)

SES were built in Crimea according to such a business plan. Activ Solar builds and maintains the solar power generation process. The owner finances this all by attracting bank loans and foreign investors. The state of Ukraine undertakes to purchase electricity from the Crimean SPPs at an inflated rate fixed in euros (€ 0.446 per 1 kWh) through the operator Energorynok until 2030. The costs of Ukraine, in turn, are offset by funds allocated by Europe to support renewable energy sources.
Due to the guaranteed overpriced tariff, it was planned by 2030 for SES to fully pay off creditors, and until March 2014 this scheme worked properly.

Solar power plant "Mityaevo" (31.55 MW)

In April 2014, payments from Ukraine to the Crimean SPP at an overpriced tariff in euros from Ukraine stopped, and Russia began to purchase solar energy at the usual tariff in rubles at 3.47 rubles. per 1 kWh. Naturally, at first, payments on bank loans stopped, and then the work of the SES themselves.
If Ukrainian banks were the creditors, it would be okay - Russia “forgave” all the debts of their Crimean debtors, but from Ukrainian banks only Oschadbank got into this scheme, and even then for a small amount. It so happened that the main creditors of the Crimean SES were the Russian Sberbank, as well as the VTB and VEB banking groups.

Solar power plant "Rodnikovoe" (7.5 MW)

And now a year has passed, Russia is forced to count the money, and cannot afford to maintain the Crimean SES, paying them € 0.446 per 1 kWh, since Europe is not going to compensate it for any costs. And there is no one in Russia to support them - the raw material country did not previously need solar energy, and does not have the appropriate technologies.
Of course, you can force Russian banks to write off loans, and the stations themselves can be easily sold as recyclable materials. But last year, Activ Solar let it slip that investors from Europe and the state corporation of the PRC also invested $ 1.8 billion in the Crimean solar power plants, and the Chinese do not forgive debts.

The last Crimean solar power plant "Nikolaevka" (69.7 MW), built in 2013.
The sixth was supposed to be a power plant in Vladislavovka, but it remained unfinished.

The Crimean authorities claim that at present the solar power plants on the peninsula are working "at full capacity", but they are lying as if it were bad things to go downhill. And to two simple questions “Who serves them? And who covers the difference between the expensive prime cost of solar energy and the small purchasing Russian tariff for electricity? ”, The Crimean authorities do not want to answer.
In fact, as soon as Energorynok stopped making payments to the Crimean SPP at an inflated rate, and Activ Solar stopped serving them, the work of the stations stopped. Now they are simply protected from theft, and all of them are waiting for the fate of the first solar power plant built in Crimea during the Soviet era.

In Crimea, there are many interesting places that are located away from coastal resorts and popular tourist routes. And we will tell you about one of such places in our today's article under the heading "Interesting about Crimea".

Today we will talk about the Crimean solar power plant in the village of Perovo, which is one of the five largest and most powerful solar energy sites in the world.

A few kilometers west of Simferopol, in the middle of the Crimean steppes scorched by the sun, the traveler's gaze suddenly appears an absolutely incredible picture, as if it had come off the screen of a movie in the genre of science fiction.

This is Perovo, one of the world's largest solar power plants.

The idea to build a solar energy generator in Crimea did not arise by chance. Already somewhere, but here there is plenty of sun! In terms of the number of sunny days, the peninsula is comparable to Australia, and on the territory of the former USSR, according to this indicator, there is little territory that can compete with the Crimea. In addition to the sun, there is enough on the peninsula and vast flat spaces - about 60% of the territory of Crimea is occupied by the steppe.

The choice of a site for the construction of the Crimean solar power plant was wide, but in the end, it was decided to build it near the village of Klyuchi, Perovsky village council, literally a few kilometers west of the Crimean capital. The station appeared in 2011. Its construction was carried out by the Austrian company Activ Solar, one of the leaders in the global solar power market.

Huge mirrors of solar panels installed in Crimea perform their main function every second - they convert the energy of sunlight into electrical energy. The total electricity capacity generated by the Crimean solar power plant is 105 megawatts. For a better understanding of the indicated volume, let us explain that the energy generated by the SES "Perovo" is enough to cover all the needs of Simferopol, a fairly large city with a population of 340,000 people.

The power plant in Perovo consists of 440 thousand solar photovoltaic modules, which are interconnected by a cable, the total length of which is 1.5 kilometers. The area occupied by the Crimean solar panels is more than 200 hectares or 260 football fields.

The "hottest time" at the power plant in Perovo comes in summer. It is on hot summer days that solar panels work at full capacity. At this time, the workers of the solar station cannot be envied - more than 400 thousand modules heat the already hot atmosphere to the state of a hot frying pan.

By the way, the solar power plant in Perovo, being the largest in Crimea, is nevertheless not the only one on the peninsula. So, another large power plant is located in the village of Okhotnikovo in the Saki region. The total capacity of all solar panels in Crimea is 215 MW.

Unfortunately, in the post-Soviet space, the solar power industry is not yet too developed, although the prospects for this direction are very, very good, as evidenced by the existing world experience.

The head of the Crimea S. Aksenov admitted that it is possible to develop alternative energy in the region only with state support, as the construction and maintenance of solar and wind power plants costs a pretty penny.

The head of the Crimea S. Aksenov admitted that it is possible to develop alternative energy in the region only with state support, as the construction and maintenance of solar and wind power plants costs a pretty penny.

S. Aksenov told about this to reporters on May 16, 2016, holding a kind of press conference on the remnants of the former glory of Ukraine - in the village of Chernomorskoye in the area of ​​the Tarkhankutskaya wind farm (WPP)

It was here, back in the days (as the Crimeans say) of Ukraine, that the Tarkhankut wind farm was built, which used wind turbines of various capacities - from 100 kW to 2.5 MW.

S. Aksenov admitted that the wind farm does not work, since wind power is the most expensive thing in the world today.

So far, there is no need to talk about a breakthrough in wind power in Crimea.

Wind power is still one of the most expensive to produce.

Even during the blackout, we could not use it, - explained S. Aksenov and added that with the current tariffs, the development of wind power in the Crimea is possible only with the support of government programs.

During the limitation of the supply of electricity in Crimea since November 2015, power engineers tried, in addition to traditional sources, to use the existing solar and wind power capacities.

However, it was almost impossible to do this due to the instability of the alternative generation.

We add that today there are several wind farms in Crimea, of which the largest are Tarkhankutskaya, Donuzlavskaya, Sakskaya and Sudakskaya.

It will not be superfluous to recall that the problem with alternative energy in Crimea has arisen a long time ago.

Exactly a year ago - in May 2015 officials were deciding what to do with solar power plants (SPP), which accumulated debts of 40 billion.

Then officials from the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation made a helpless gesture - in Crimea there are 6 SPPs with a total capacity of 407 MW, which have debts.

After the return of Crimea to Russia, the electricity tariffs for SES decreased from the green tariff of 26.8 rubles / kW * h to the usual tariff of 3.4 rubles / kW * h, and no subsidies were introduced.

This made the operation of the SES unprofitable.

Moreover, in May 2014, S Aksenov accused the Austrian Activ Solar, the owner of the solar power plant, of fraud.

Offended Activ Solar then stopped the operation of the SPP.

In 2015, a desperate situation developed on the peninsula - SPP operators could not pay installments on loans for the construction of SPP.

The total debt of the Crimean SES to VTB, Sberbank and VEB as of May 2015 was 45 billion rubles.

Then the officials were looking for different options for a way out of the delicate situation - to subsidize a new tariff or to write off debts.

Note that the fate of the SES in Crimea still resonates with pain in the hearts of officials from the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, back in 2016, A. Novak stated that the development of green energy using renewable sources (RES) would require investments in the amount of 561 billion rubles until 2020.

It was supposed to increase the capacity of renewable energy sources from 0.9 to 2.5% by 6 GW of the total generation.

However, while in Russia alternative energy does not please with indicators, in other countries there are such indicators.

Wind power is considered 2nd most attractive on investments among renewable energy sources after solar.

Investments in wind energy in the world in 2015 amounted to 110 million US dollars against 161 billion US dollars invested in solar energy.

According to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Germany (45 GW), Spain (23 GW), Great Britain (13.6 GW) and France (10.4 GW) had the highest wind power capacity in 2015.