Does anyone have some figures of how much electricity a hectare of solar panels produce compared to a hectare of maize through an AD plants.
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I've just noticed a reference in Wikipedia about Currys selling panels in 2006 for 1k each! Didn't go on long!If PV panels were the price they are today, 15 years ago, we would have had a digester for slurry only, just for heat production, supported by PV and battery.
my experience is much closer to 200MWh for 200Kw of installed panels but you are correct in the official figures .Maize silage might produce about 0.5MWh/tonne, depending on dry matter, ME and efficiency of digestion and generation. At an average yield of about 18 tonnes/acre inland, less here near the coast, that is 9 MWh/acre/year.
A generally taken yield for PV is 900 MWh/MW peak, so for 1 MW on 5 acres, 200 kW on 1 acre (@Exfarmer values) there would be 900x0.2 MWh per annum, or 180 MWh/acre/year.
So PV yield is 20 times AD from maize yield.
Caveats - PV is peaky output, AD can be level output. Efficient use of AD also utilises as much of the waste heat from generation as possible, we are able to utilise about 1.2 kWh of heat for every 1 kW of electricity we generate. We are also utilising the lower quality silage at the top, sides and bottom of the clamp, leaving the best for the dairy herd.
If PV panels were the price they are today, 15 years ago, we would have had a digester for slurry only, just for heat production, supported by PV and battery.