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PG&E's cost-effective photovoltaic installations

15

Citations

0

References

2002

Year

C. Jennings

Unknown Venue

Abstract

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has been using photovoltaics (PV) since the 1970s in many cost-effective applications both near to and distant from the established electrical grid. At the end of 1989, over 420 PG&E PV systems with a total capacity of 29 kW were in operation. PV-powered applications include gas flow computers, water level sensors, automated gas meters, gas supervisory control and data acquisition remote terminal units (SCADA RTUs) cloud seeders, gas samplers, meteorological towers, microwave repeaters, warning sirens, aircraft warning beacons, cathodic protection, an automatic gate opener, lights, a rupture control valve, a backup generator starter, and a water-temperature sensor. Hundreds of additional PV installations are planned.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>