The CPFL Power Plant tour was a great way to gain some first hand experience with alternative energy in the working world. When we first approached the campus, it had a futuristic and innovative feel, which I thought was an interesting contrast to most boring, concrete, corporate buildings in the US. This theme continued into the information room, which chronologically displayed energy tech through the past few centuries (including the cool interactive floor).
The control center may have been my favorite portion of the tour. It had a very CIA vibe to it, with 20 or so engineers monitoring all kinds of data on huge screens; the true puppeteers behind the citizens' electricity and everyday lives. I immediately understood some graphs, such as weather tracking and grid monitoring. However, their Smart Metering System was new to me. From what I understood, this process was primarily to keep data flowing between their control centers and monitoring stations. If one section of the grid went down, or data was cut off at some section, the system would realign itself, reassigning individual houses and business to a new 'hub' in order to minimize downtime and data-tracking. I thought this was a really creative concept, and it made me wonder if its possible to apply this smart technology elsewhere. Imagine if a tree fell on a powerline, and the grid automatically could reassign power 'paths' in order to account for break, while still providing power to the affected region? I'm not sure how the infrastructure for this would work though...
Our final portion of the trip was to CPFL's solar farm a few miles away. It was significantly smaller than I anticipated, with only one hector of area for the entire complex. My biggest takeaway from the day was that at none of these clean alternatives really provide that much power without grand-scale implementation. This solar farm in particular generated only 1.1 MW of power, but much of its purpose is for solar research. The majority of the plant's solar panels were 1st generation silicon based cells, operating at 9.1% efficiency (which matched the in-class reading's estimation of around 10% for most mass produced solar panels). CPFL also had a few of the newer, more efficient panels, some of which rotated (in an east-west plane) with the sun. Their solar operation was a lot smaller in comparison to their biomass, wind, and hydro operations. It seems solar is an up and coming project for Brazil, but not yet at a point where it can be relied on to provide significant power to the region.
Finally, we got an opportunity to drive one of their electric cars. Fundamentally it felt the same as driving any standard transmission vehicle. However, once I began getting it moving down the road, it noticeably felt 'lacking' when compared to gas powered cars. The top speed was only 100 km/h, which is roughly equal to 60 mph, enough to keep up with traffic on the highway, but not enough to get anywhere when you're running late. In addition, the battery lasts only 60 miles, and takes (6?) hours to charge, using the home charging station of 240 volts. I couldn't see myself using one of these for everyday life, but rather as a car to get around the city, in short distances and commutes.
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