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Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 6:30 pm
by Mr Gus
https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idOV133728052022RP1

Not a nice thing to happen, not a nice war, however i've posted it on the basis of the extremes that potentially can affect this form of energy production will not happen often, so worth documenting.

I think this was a singular missile, which clearly scored a direct hit on the localised power grid as part of the russian rain of missiles on infrastructure seeing as Putin & cronies don't care about the soldiers they throw into their "special operation" but do care about numbers leaking out & dissent at home, no idea of location or missile type, the russians are "supposed" to be running out of precision missiles, that's the sort of propaganda you hear every war, as wellas the "looking peaky" of any foriegn leader conducting it via standard propaganda output in the west.

Guided or not, it hit the target I guess, or their artillery having shot so many shells off recently are naturally better practised for aim & target acquisition.

The other thing of course is once a solar farm is trashed in this manner, how long to clean up & bring the remainder back on line?

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 6:12 pm
by nowty
Mr Gus wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 6:30 pm The other thing of course is once a solar farm is trashed in this manner, how long to clean up & bring the remainder back on line?
Not as long as a FF or Nuke Power station.

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 9:13 pm
by Oliver90owner
nowty wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 6:12 pm
Not as long as a FF or Nuke Power station.
Quite right. But a little more specific - about a day or two, maybe a week - unless the grid connection has been destroyed.

They are modular, so simply disconnect the dead modules and away it goes - at reduced output of course.

There may be a lot of cracked panels, so some may need to be moved around. As we don’t know how large the installation is (was), it’s difficult to be precise. The ground explosion may have spread a lot of earth around, but may also have directed most of the energy upwards, rather than laterally.

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 9:40 pm
by Mr Gus
nowty wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 6:12 pm
Mr Gus wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 6:30 pm The other thing of course is once a solar farm is trashed in this manner, how long to clean up & bring the remainder back on line?
Not as long as a FF or Nuke Power station.
Yup, somehow a solar farm doesn't warrant an international fission industry inspection contingent to check it over methinks.
More like a couple of babushka's with dusbusters, some brooms, a tractor & bucket, & a couple of sparkies.

How much on paper is the cost between the two?

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 10:04 am
by Oliver90owner
How much on paper is the cost between the two?

Approximately, but very slightly less, than the cost for the nuclear refurbishment. I would suggest that even ignoring the cost for the solar farm would not affect the cost significantly (maths-wise).

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:09 am
by smegal
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/06/02/ ... r-bombing/

Looks like it's partly back up and running.

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 11:09 am
by nowty
So up and running again in under a week. :mrgreen:

If it was a nuke plant we would be moving away from it for a very long time. :?

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 10:42 am
by Mr Gus
I see the infrastructure was set with Desps ground screws on boggy ground (note the distinct lack of concrete chunks flying debris too)
Nice one desp ;)

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 11:42 am
by Oliver90owner
I note in smegal’s link that only 400 odd panels and 4 inverters were damaged.

As this solar farm was rated at nearly 3.9MW, it would have been comprised of 144 string inverters and 12000 panels. That it is only delivering 1.8MW would indicate it is either not too sunny or that is the average over 24 hours?

Not a lot of damage, actually? They will likely now be shifting out damaged panels and replacing with good ones from the inoperable strings.

Re: Missile strike hits ukraine solar farm (footage)

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 3:47 pm
by Mart
I appreciate that this story is an extreme example, but I've always thought the modular nature of RE is a benefit. Not only do 'we' have far more wind farms and PV farms, than FF/nuclear powerstations, so losing one has less impact on the grid, but the farms themselves are modular, so damage to a panel or WT, will hopefully only impact a small section of the overall farm.