What’s better than using a form of renewable energy to produce electricity? Combining two forms, of course. Swedish energy company Vattenfall is moving forward with plans to add a solar farm to their existing wind power operations at one site in the United Kingdom. The hybrid renewable energy park is an experiment to maximize energy generation for the amount of land being used, all while trimming costs. Could hybrid solar and wind farms be the next big renewable energy trend?
Vattenfall already has a wind farm in operation in the UK and the new solar farm will be added to that site, creating a hybrid mega renewable energy farm. The company said co-locating wind with solar power makes “technical sense”, as the wind and sun tend to generate clean power at different times. Essentially, a hybrid energy farm exploits the best of both worlds, taking advantage of the levels of wind and solar energy that fluctuate with the seasons. The solar farm will also use the same grid connection as the wind farm, which cuts down on costs.
Related: The U.S. now has 50,000 wind turbines fighting climate change
The Parc Cynog solar farm, which breaks ground later this month, will add 4.99MW of solar energy production in Wales on the site of the 11-turbine wind farm. Nearly 19,000 solar panels will be installed over a three-month construction period. The site has been generating electricity from wind energy for 14 years, and Vattenfall officials say they expect to begin converting sunlight into electricity as soon as March this year.
Via The Guardian
Images via Shutterstock and Vattenfall
from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://ift.tt/1SK8hoN
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