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What's Happening at APS Star Center® While nothing beats a live visit to the APS STAR Center®, this virtual tour of the APS STAR Center®, allows you to see where APS tests and evaluates the latest solar technology available from all around the world. This tour will show you the technologies used to make electricity from solar energy. The technologies housed and tested at APS STAR Center® make up the components of complete solar systems. Here is a brief description of the systems and components you will see on your tour of the APS STAR Center®: We’ll work from largest to smallest… Solar System – All the components required to catch the sunlight and turn it into electricity that is usable for our customers. Solar arrays make up a solar system. Some systems are designed to track the sun while others, like those mounted on the roof of a house, are fixed and always point in the same direction. Solar Array – Each row of solar panels is a solar array. Each array tracks the sun from dawn to dusk. In the morning, the array points toward the east and in the evening, it points to the west. This is called single axis tracking because it moves only from east to west along the north south axis. In the middle of the array is a tracking motor that moves the array from east to west each day. The motor is controlled by a computer that knows each day when the sun rises, when it sets, and where the sun is in the sky so it can point the array directly at the sun to get maximum energy. Solar Panel – Each solar array is composed of one or more solar panels or modules. Solar panels are the smallest individual components that are available commercially to convert sunlight into electricity. About a dozen companies worldwide manufacture solar panels. You’ll learn more about solar panels at Photo Two. Inverter – The inverter converts the DC (direct current) electricity generated by the solar panels into the AC (alternating current) electricity that is used everyday in our homes. Transformers – In our large solar power plants, transformers "step up" the AC electricity from the voltage generated by the solar system to the voltage we use to distribute the power along the large power lines to our customers’ homes. When the electricity gets into your neighborhood, the electricity is "stepped down " to the 110 or 220 volts used by the lights, TVs and other appliances in your home. In small solar power systems connected directly to homes and businesses, electricity is converted to 110 volts by the inverter. Monitoring Equipment - The green boxes with meters and displays are the monitoring equipment used to measure performance and electricity generated each day from the sun. The monitors, which can be found throughout APS STAR Center®, indicate how the systems are performing in real time and help our scientists evaluate the efficiency of the various systems. The monitors record the current peak power the solar array is generating in kilowatts "kW" and in kilowatt-hours "kWh," which is the total amount of energy the system has generated over time. This is also how you buy electricity from APS. For example, one kW of peak power being generated for one hour equals one kWh of total energy being put into the system. APS STAR Center® also houses a working solar power plant generating a maximum of 480 kW of electricity. We say "maximum" because solar plants produce varying amounts of electricity depending on the time of day and the intensity of the sunshine. As you know, the sun is more intense at noon than in the morning. To catch as much sunlight as possible, this system tracks the sun—aiming the solar panels so they catch as much sunlight as possible, and therefore produce more electricity. The APS STAR Center® is available for tours. To schedule a tour, or for more information, call (602) 250-4990. Back to Tour
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