The electricity generating company EGE Haina contemplates using sheep to maintain the uncontrolled growth of weeds and vegetation on his photovoltaic plant Sunflower in Yaguate, because the manual procedure represents an important proportion of the productive cost.
The Dominican company plans to reach an agreement with ranchers to carry out the initiative starting in 2023 in the sunflower solar park as first project.
“Currently the eldest productive cost in the operation of the park it corresponds to the process of removing the weeds, something we do manually to avoid the use of insecticides and products that are harmful to the environment”, explained Then.
This is a curious strategy that is used internationally to dispense with machines clippersadd value to the land they use and generate a new source of economic income for the families that are dedicated to raising sheep in the areas near the parks.
Performance
The space required for the installation of the solar panels occupies land traditionally used for agriculture. In this sense, the grass, weeds and other types of vegetation generate shade, which prevents the optimal performance of the facilities.
Reason why the maintenance of physical space is vital for performance in energy generation, stated the specialized manager of the generating company.
In that sense, the sheep offer the advantage that they can reach restricted areas below panel installations. The larger the park, the higher the cost and the longer the clearing and cleaning process takes.
The sunflower park has an installed capacity of 120 megawatts (MW) that are processed in 268,200 panelsdistributed over an area of 220 hectaresis considered the largest solar park in the Antilles and is located in Yaguate, a municipality in the San Cristóbal province.
Then offered the information to journalists and communicators who attended a tour of the photovoltaic park as part of the training process for the second diplomat about the electrical sector of the company Edesur Dominican.
