Hacker News: ush

New comment by ush in "Oldest Pyramid Found Not in Egypt or Americas, but in Indonesia"

ush — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 15:28:07 +0000

Maybe it was one single global Pyramid builder company building pyramids in different parts of the world. So a global pyramid scheme :-)

New comment by ush in "Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now"

ush — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 07:43:37 +0000

I hope he does salvage the situation and find someone else to run Twitter and saves himself from being eaten alive. The world needs him.

New comment by ush in "A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground"

ush — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 18:35:33 +0000

@panick21_ we should get to know each other. I'm in Switzerland too. I'm not an experienced HN writer. Is there a way to exchange our contact details privately here?

New comment by ush in "A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground"

ush — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 17:31:24 +0000

I agree. sounds like a red flag when they reply with "yeah everyone is buying it so your question is irrelevant" instead of providing a technical explanation/response. I am also skeptical on companies that raise too much funding (I can not imagine why they need $18million)

New comment by ush in "A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground"

ush — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 17:19:03 +0000

I had really wanted to setup a utility scale solar power plant in Switzerland and did some research and could not find a way to do it nor en example of it (except rooftop solar panels which is common). Switzerland is already energy independent (60% of electricity generation is hydro, 34% is nuclear). This is a great mix comparing to fossil sources in many countries. And mostly explains low inflation in the country I think.

New comment by ush in "A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground"

ush — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 07:53:23 +0000

this is a very good point. would be good to see data for a couple of years of production and compare vs. traditional system. it's most of the time better to spend upfront for ongoing production increase. If 5% loss during 25 years, 20% upfront saving might not look that good anymore for a plant that pays back in 7 years or so.

New comment by ush in "A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground"

ush — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 07:48:16 +0000

Hi. The most important step is permitting as it's a highly regulated industry. The rest is easier. Every jurisdiction has its own rules for permitting. Some govs want to push it more and make it easy (like Spain used to do it). Some don't need solar plants (like Switzerland). I heard Maryland in US is pushing it. I was planning to visit Maryland ministry of energy to learn more actually.

New comment by ush in "A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground"

ush — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 07:01:06 +0000

I own and operate a utility scale solar plant and i've always found it inefficient to spend 180k USD per MegaWatts for steel and aluminum structures to hold those panels. I've always dreamt of "my next plant will not have these steels" and my friends in the industry say it's impossible (like they all do say for new things). I hope this solution is a good one. The challenges are: 1) Snow: when it snows, inclination (22degrees in ours) helps snow blocks slide down usually in 2-3 days. when panels are completely flat, snow can stay on panels for weeks. how to solve that in large scale plants? 2) Natural vegetation that grows by itself: We deal with them with the help of sheep. They grow everywhere, under the panels, around the panels. As the panel covers 100% of the surface, no sunlight means no vegetation beneath? Is this for sure? Because there is no access to do any work beneath the panels after the installation. 3) Underground animals: Moles, mice (even snakes) etc live beneath the soil and they open holes to the surface and come up. Before, they could not access the panels because they are 1 meter up on the steel structure. Now they will have easy access to panels and cables. Will they cause harm? A snake sliding on the panels is ok? 4) Earth moves. After 5 years, some structures went deeper into the ground. I don't know if it's gonna cause a problem