Monte Alto solar power plant facts for kids
The Monte Alto photovoltaic power plant is a big solar farm in Spain. It uses the sun's energy to make electricity for homes and businesses. This plant can produce a lot of power, and it helps Spain get more of its energy from clean, renewable sources.
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What is the Monte Alto Solar Power Plant?
The Monte Alto power plant is a special kind of power station that uses sunlight to create electricity. It's called "photovoltaic" because "photo" means light and "voltaic" relates to electricity. Think of it as a giant collection of solar panels working together.
How Much Power Does It Make?
This solar plant is very powerful! It can generate 9.55 megawatts peak (MWp) of electricity. "Megawatts peak" means the most power it can make when the sun is shining brightest. Every year, it produces about 14 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. A "kilowatt-hour" is how we measure the amount of electricity used over time, like how many units of power your house uses. This is enough clean energy to power many thousands of homes! Building such a large plant cost around 65 million Euros.
Where is the Plant Located?
The Monte Alto plant is located in Spain, near a small town called Milagro in the region of Navarre. It's built on what used to be farmland. The plant covers a huge area of 51 hectares. To give you an idea, one hectare is about the size of a large sports field, so 51 hectares is like having more than 50 football fields covered in solar panels!
How Do the Solar Panels Work?
The plant has 889 large structures holding solar panels. Most of these, 864 to be exact, have a special feature called "automated solar tracking." This means the panels can slowly move throughout the day to follow the sun's path across the sky. By always facing the sun directly, they can capture the most sunlight and make the most electricity. The other few structures are fixed in place, but they are still positioned to get a lot of sun.
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