Case Study of a Solar Power Installation for an Automated Transit Network in San Jose

摘要

The Sustainable Mobility System for Silicon Valley (SMSSV), also known as the Spartan Superway, is a project to develop a grid-tied solar powered Automated Transit Network (ATN) system. Recent work has focused on analyzing the power requirements and designing the solar power system for a potential implementation of ATN in the city of San Jose. Extensive use of the System Advisor Model (SAM) software from the National Renewable Laboratory (NREL) has made it possible to estimate how much solar PV is needed to run the system 24/7 and be zero net-metered (on average) over a calendar year. SAM estimates the number as well the total area of PV needed. Considering losses from shading and soiling, it is possible to predict how much of the POA (plane-of-array) energy will be available for the transportation network and how much can be used for other applications. Modeling results show that to operate approximately 90 vehicles over the 14 km guideway 24 hours a day requires 19,600 monocrystalline solar panels with an area of 38,300 m~2.