by Marta Pacheco

 

The work is is currently under construction in the Falken Tyre manufacturing facility, in Thailand, and it will feature the largest rooftop installation worldwide: a solar panel the size of 18 football pitches.

 

1. Falken
The Japanese-owned Falken Tyre is building the world’s most extensive solar panel installation on a single facility, covering an area of 100,000 square metres. As of 1 February 2023, this facility is considered the largest world’s rooftop solar panel array installed at a single facility, according to Internal KEPCO Research.

The installation is being constructed at the Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) factory in Thailand, where Falken is a subsidiary.

2. Sustainable energy
The installation is composed of 40,000 solar panels  projected to deliver 22MW and is set to be completed by January 2025. By then, the facility will be able to use 100% renewable energy, due to the investment in the new solar panel installation and the adoption of a gas co-generation system and biomass electric power system initiatives at the Rayong Province facility. 

 

Full story: https://traveltomorrow.com/thailand-will-feature-the-worlds-largest-solar-rooftop/

 

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looks like several rooftops to me, but what do I know...

Thailand taking the praise but built by The Japanese-owned Falken Tyre company.

2 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Thailand taking the praise but built by The Japanese-owned Falken Tyre company.

That's hardly Thailand taking the praise, mentioning the name of the country that contains the feature.

1 minute ago, nigelforbes said:

That's hardly Thailand taking the praise, mentioning the name of the country that contains the feature.

I say it how I see it..

you're welcome to your view.

Building is easy. Wait for the maintenance 

2 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

looks like several rooftops to me, but what do I know...

"Who do you know"

 

THAT is the question, 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra#:~:text=A 2015 report from the,with Department of Energy oversight.

 

Barack Hussein Obama

4 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

looks like several rooftops to me, but what do I know...

That was my first thought too but I guess single facility is not quite the same as single building.

Somethings not quite right here.

 100,000 M² at 1kW/M² = 100,000kW

Efficiency of ≈20% = 20,000kW or 20MW (not 22MW)

That only happens when the sunlight is perpendicular to the panels and I notice that this cannot be the case for all panels because it looks like 50% are angled in one direction and the other 50% in another direction. My guess is that the actual power will be 5% less which would be about 19,000 kW (19MW).

 

But really I'm nit picking because I'm of the opinion that we should all be doing something like this.

Well done the Falken tyre company. In 20 years from now your panels will still be making over 80% electricity.

Big savings.

 

Will the cost of tyres be reduced perhaps?

 

I think it's time to start up a solar panel cleaning company.

6 hours ago, jaywalker said:

"Who do you know"

 

THAT is the question, 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra#:~:text=A 2015 report from the,with Department of Energy oversight.

 

Barack Hussein Obama

Obama Has Done More for Clean Energy Than You Think

The program has made a profit of nearly $1 billion in interest payments to the U.S Treasury to date. At least $5 billion more is expected over the next few decades as loans are paid back. That compares with $780 million in losses to date, the bulk of which is accounted for by the $535 million loaned to Solyndra.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/obama-has-done-more-for-clean-energy-than-you-think/#:~:text=The program has made a,%24535 million loaned to Solyndra.

3 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Somethings not quite right here.

 100,000 M² at 1kW/M² = 100,000kW

Efficiency of ≈20% = 20,000kW or 20MW (not 22MW)

That only happens when the sunlight is perpendicular to the panels and I notice that this cannot be the case for all panels because it looks like 50% are angled in one direction and the other 50% in another direction. My guess is that the actual power will be 5% less which would be about 19,000 kW (19MW).

 

But really I'm nit picking because I'm of the opinion that we should all be doing something like this.

Well done the Falken tyre company. In 20 years from now your panels will still be making over 80% electricity.

Big savings.

 

Will the cost of tyres be reduced perhaps?

 

Doesn't it depend on what kind of solar panels are being used?

14 hours ago, placeholder said:

Doesn't it depend on what kind of solar panels are being used?

There are only two types of readily available solar panels. Mono and poly crystalline.

The most efficient in Watts/M² are the mono crystalline ones.

The numbers I used are for Mono so I'm looking at this from the optimistic view.

 

I wonder if Falken got a good discount for all those panels.

The cost of this must be in the zillions, curious how long before the investment  has paid of, even selling to grid.

1 minute ago, Shop mak said:

The cost of this must be in the zillions, curious how long before the investment  has paid of, even selling to grid.

It will be paying itself off from the first day in reductions of CO2 into the atmosphere.

55 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

There are only two types of readily available solar panels. Mono and poly crystalline.

The most efficient in Watts/M² are the mono crystalline ones.

The numbers I used are for Mono so I'm looking at this from the optimistic view.

 

I wonder if Falken got a good discount for all those panels.

Actually, there are several types of monocrystalline panels, including PERC cells which are more efficient than standard monocrystalline cells and perform better in hot weather.

13 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Actually, there are several types of monocrystalline panels, including PERC cells which are more efficient than standard monocrystalline cells and perform better in hot weather.

Agreed but good though PERCs are the differences are only about 6% tops but the costs are almost double.

If you want to talk better efficiency then you would be looking at 30% efficient perovskite cells which are;

A. Not readily available and

B. Would cost a lot more.

7 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Agreed but good though PERCs are the differences are only about 6% tops but the costs are almost double.

If you want to talk better efficiency then you would be looking at 30% efficient perovskite cells which are;

A. Not readily available and

B. Would cost a lot more.

I think your information is out of date:

"Crystalline polysilicon remains the dominant technology for PV modules, with over 95% market share. The shift to more efficient monocrystalline wafers accelerated in 2021, with the technology capturing almost all crystalline PV production. In parallel, more efficient cell design (PERC) is also expanding its dominance with almost 75% market share. New, even higher-efficiency cell designs (using technologies such as TOPCon, heterojunction and back contact) saw expanded commercial production and captured about 20% of the market in 2021. "

https://www.iea.org/reports/solar-pv

1 hour ago, Shop mak said:

The cost of this must be in the zillions, curious how long before the investment  has paid of, even selling to grid.

Payback time depends on cost of PEA power which industrial users may get at a different rate from domestic consumers but broadly speaking it should work out the same as home solar payback. 

 

A big factory would run into the thousands of Baht per day I would imagine. If so then that is what they are saving by going solar.

 

Here is a list of PEA tariffs which should tell you what the costs might be.

 

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.pea.co.th/Portals/1/Knowledge%20PEA/Electricity%20Tariffs%20JAN66%20Unofficial%20Translation.pdf?ver=2023-01-27-133655-423

33 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Agreed but good though PERCs are the differences are only about 6% tops but the costs are almost double.

If you want to talk better efficiency then you would be looking at 30% efficient perovskite cells which are;

A. Not readily available and

B. Would cost a lot more.

Perovskites still aren't ready for use. There's still the durability issue.

But PERCs wouldn't be the overwhelming favorite currently if the weren't cost competitive.

 

 But due to its cost parity and higher efficiencies, it has since become the official industry standard for new solar PV projects. In fact, the International Energy Agency reports that PERC panels currently enjoy almost 75% market share among new PV installations.

https://aurorasolar.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-perc-solar-cells/#:~:text=The main selling point of,panels is a compelling option.