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Acciona’s Portuguese PV plant may be big, but one of the numbers just doesn’t add up

31 December 2008 | By Tom Cheyney | Chip Shots

portuguese_flagThe newly activated photovoltaic power plant run by Acciona Energy in Portugal, with its 46 MWp capacity, sets the bar higher than ever for ground-based solar farms. With more than 262,000 crystalline-silicon-based modules deployed on some 2500 tracker arrays spread out over 250 hectares (that's alot of soccer pitches), the installation is physically very impressive--a heady holiday gift for the entire renewables community.

But one of the numbers cited in the company's press release strains credulity, because it's flat-out wrong. Unfortunately, most of the media reports about the project just picked up the erroneous info without blinking.

The number in question is Acciona's statement that "Amareleja is capable of producing 93 million KW/hr a year―equivalent to the electrical consumption of over 30 million Portuguese households (emphasis added)."

Aside from the fact that there aren't 30 million households to consume said energy in Portugal, a smallish albeit sunny country of about 10.6 million people, the solar-energy conversion math just doesn't add up.

A standard calculation, at least the one used for California homes, holds that an installed megawatt can power about 750 households. Multiplying that number by the 46 MW installed at the Portuguese site, we get enough energy for about 34,500 homes.

Since 34,500 is only three extra zeroes from being in the same numerical ballpark as 30 million, one gets a sense that the glaring mistake in Acciona's PR is likely one of a typographic not hyperbolic variety.

But the asleep-at-the-wheel acceptance of that bogus figure by just about every media outlet that's reported on the story--from the trades (who should know better) to the mainstream (who are oft clueless on such matters)--is an error of a much more disturbing nature.

As we ring out the old--and troubling--year none too soon and greet double-naught nine with a raised glass, we in the media covering the solar PV space have an obvious resolution for the new year--to not regurgitate every piece of press release fodder as fact and to strive for greater accuracy in our reporting.

Reader comments

On 08 January 2009 Tom Cheyney (story author) wrote:
Tom Cheyney, Chip Shots blogger, adds: Nice to see a discussion breaking out here. I have updated info from Acciona confirming that the amount of energy generated by the PV system will supply about 30,000 Portuguese homes with electricity. The company spokesman also said that Yingli Solar manufactured/supplied the modules deployed at the site.
On 08 January 2009 Jeremy Ong wrote:
Thanks Tom for the scrutiny! I have also dug deeper and realsied that their 93Million kWhrs/year is also inflated with Crystalline Modules as power plants in Spain is only getting at best 4.5hrs of usable energy per day with the high heat losses in crystalline technology. But with their 93mil kwhr they would have to be getting around 5.5hr of usable sun which I really think its inflated. Even with thinfilm you may be getting 4.8hrs at best. So its time for them to really check their numbers again!
On 08 January 2009 vpralos wrote:
John Smith, acciona is the kind of company that would make this mistake on purpose just to get the number in the local new....the correction would be lost in the aftermath
On 08 January 2009 solar PV wrote:
Thank you.. Finally someone comments about the fact that the Media , as long as they can print anything big, is willing to not even verify the facts. To the Media of this Industry , Do your home work, be responsible, ...lets not make this industry the internet of the 90´s or the realstate of the 2005-2008. thnak you again....
On 07 January 2009 Paul Mitchell wrote:
Also realize that Euro translation where the , = . and vice versa!
On 05 January 2009 Guest wrote:
Most European households don't have the same energy footprint as US households...but 1000x is a bit much to hope for ; )
On 02 January 2009 John Smith wrote:
This whole article was based on the fact that someone at Acciona made the mistake of translating 30,000 on the original Spanish press release to 30 million on the English one. Sure, this was a slip up, but not one that warranted a whole article of this sort. Perhaps another new year's resolution should be to concentrate on proper news stories rather than blowing completely out of proportion a simple mistake like this
On 31 December 2008 stateside wrote:
Keep the good work coming Tom, and Happy New Year.
On 31 December 2008 Denny Houghton wrote:
Also being clear about the difference between KWp and KWHr is usually confused
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