Are prisons suitable for photovoltaic installations?

Prisons are the punishment execution organs in my country. According to the needs of reforming criminals, they organize criminals to engage in production labor and carry out ideological, cultural and technical education for criminals. Prison enterprises are also a special type of state-owned enterprises, which have both political and economic functions. According to data from unofficial channels, there are about 680 prisons across the country.

Due to the large number of energy users, large size and special environment in the prison system, the electricity consumption of many prisons has surged in recent years and faced electricity load.

So is it suitable to install solar panels on the roof of the prison? Let's take a look at the site, electricity price, policy and other aspects.

In fact, the prison roof is very suitable for installing photovoltaics. Since the prison building as a whole consists of three parts: the administrative office area, the supervision area and the armed police area, it is generally a concrete flat roof, which is a roof that can be walked on; and the terrain around the prison is basically flat, which is basically equivalent to the construction land; in addition, there are generally factories, warehouses and other buildings in the prison, most of which are colored steel tile roof structures.

In the prison's electricity system, there are not only prison enterprise production electricity, but also administrative office electricity, and dormitory life electricity, etc., which generally include three types of electricity prices:

1. Large industrial electricity: The electricity consumption of prison enterprises is generally in accordance with large industrial electricity, and the peak and valley electricity prices are implemented.

2. General industrial and commercial electricity and others: The daily lighting, administrative office, etc. of the prison generally implement the general industrial and commercial electricity price.

3. Residential electricity price: Generally, it is the living electricity of employee dormitories, etc.

The large industrial electricity price and general industrial and commercial electricity price in the prison are at a relatively high electricity price level, and the comprehensive electricity price before the discount is above 0.7 yuan/kwh. Through the contract energy management model, after giving the prison electricity price discount, there is still a very considerable electricity bill income.

Prison photovoltaic project case

The project is located in the prison area of ​​Xinyang Prison in Henan Province, with an installed capacity of 2.5317MW, and adopts the mode of "self-generation and self-use, surplus power to the grid". After the project is put into operation, it is expected to produce an average of about 2.66 million kWh of green electricity per year, which is equivalent to saving about 616 tons of standard coal per year and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 2,553 tons, providing strong support for the Henan Provincial Prison System to actively carry out low-carbon energy conservation and build resource-saving prisons.

On November 13, 2023, the first distributed photovoltaic power generation project in the Hunan Provincial Prison System-the Hunan Chishan Prison Distributed Photovoltaic Power Station Project started construction.

The project is located in Chishan Prison, Yuanjiang City, Hunan Province. It mainly uses prison concrete roofs, color steel tile roofs and steel structure carports to build photovoltaic power stations, with a total designed installed capacity of 958kWp. During the operation period, the total power generation is about 21.34 million kWh, which is equivalent to saving 272 tons of standard coal per year compared with thermal power plants with the same grid-connected power, reducing the emission of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by 724 tons per year, reducing the emission of atmospheric pollution gas SO2 by about 1.26 tons per year, and reducing the emission of nitrogen oxide gas NOx by about 1.26 tons per year. This project has important demonstration significance for energy conservation, emission reduction and green transformation of the prison system.

In October 2023, the photovoltaic power generation carport of Shandong Luzhong Drug Rehabilitation Center was put into use.

The project has comprehensively upgraded and renovated the original open-air parking spaces. All photovoltaic carports can meet the parking needs of more than 200 vehicles, and charging piles will be built as planned in the future.

The power generated by the project will be used first in the office area of ​​the drug rehabilitation center, and the remaining power will be distributed and used for secondary use through the 83 substation. It is estimated that the annual photovoltaic power generation will exceed 1 million kWh, saving more than 200,000 yuan in electricity costs per year. Since its operation, as of October 16, the photovoltaic carport has generated a total of 37.04MWh of electricity after the first phase of trial operation. While solving the problem of "difficult parking" for employees, it has added a touch of color to the promotion of low-carbon and environmental protection.