Spanish TSK Solar is en route to bringing Uriel Renewables-Coqui Power LLC’s San Fermin solar power plant in northeastern Puerto Rico online. Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) has delivered 26 megawatts of CS6P-P high-performance photovoltaic panels, and the plant is expected to be up and running by the end of this year.
It’s the first PV project in Puerto Rico that will meet the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s technical requirements. Part of those requirements demand that grid-connected power systems must enable both active and reactive power regulation.
A Canadian Solar press release goes into some depth on this point, explaining that the plant can basically adjust for fluctuations in solar intensity. The plant also features its own predictive weather station, which further enhances the plant’s capacity for adjusting to abrupt changes in incident sunlight.
The plant was designed jointly by TSK Solar and Uriel Renewables with a view toward ensuring robustness and reliability in diverse weather conditions, including variable soil types. The panels are mounted 2-4 meters off ground level on structures that can tolerate winds up to 162 miles per hour. The plant will also feature a 40 percent overcurrent capacity, as well as backup energy systems.
Puerto Rico, due to its convenient location amidst strong and steady offshore wind currents, is also looking to expand its wind sector. Late last August, Spanish Gestamp Wind announced that its 23 megawatt Punta de Lima wind facility along the eastern coast of Puerto Rico was nearing the midway completion point. Once finished, that plant could power up to 9,000 households.
