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American solar farms

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Re: American solar farms

#221

Post by thinkcontext »

quickthrowman wrote: post #119
ben_w wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the person you're replying to, but if I read the following link correctly, the USA average price to purchase is only $5.5k/acre, and any part of the US cheaper than or including the average price in Nebraska (ranked 17th at $3,884/acre) could well be trading food farmland for solar farm land at that price: https://acretrader.com/resources/farmland-values/farmland-pr...

High plains Nebraska land can support cattle grazing or maybe a wheat crop, given they receive less than 10” of rain per year. Nobody is converting irrigated Ogallala aquifer farmland to solar fields, they’re taking marginal land used for grazing and using that for solar fields. Productive farmland can have wind turbines within it, due to the smaller footprint of the turbine tower. Productive farmland is $10k+ an acr…

> Nobody is converting irrigated Ogallala aquifer farmland to solar fields

Given the rate at which the aquifer is being depleted, they should. There are some water districts in CA that have encouraged conversion to solar but it's controversial.

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/07/california-agricul...

Re: American solar farms

#223

Post by rmason »

t1234s wrote: post #222

Solar panels == shade. Any companies deploying solar in this manner (parking lots, pedestrian trails, bus benches, etc..)

Locally Michigan State is covering all their parking lots with solar panels. The added advantage is that since you're car is parked under them you don't have to clear the snow off.

https://ipf.msu.edu/about/news/solar-carport-initiative-earn...

But what I haven't figured out is if they have to broom them off after a snow or just wait until the sun melts it. By the time I am around in the afternoon time they are always cleared.

Re: American solar farms

#224

Post by RALaBarge »

paulnpace wrote: post #8

My experience has been that people living next to newly constructed solar farms are unhappy about living next to a solar farm. It is also my experience that this is a fringe opinion because a very low percentage of people live next to solar farms.

I come from rural Michigan and everyone in the areas where the turbines are complain about it. Its the view or its the sound. The former sure, the latter I haven't heard it myself but I don't go home anymore. It is also the only new investments made in the area in 50 years in any which way shape or form.

When they first started, they had to build the infrastructure and stations to collect the power to transport it from the turbines. My mom rented out some rooms of her house to make some cash when that went on for maybe 2 years in total. There was a lot of work and money coming into the area for a moment, but now the only people making money are the farmers who own the land the turbines sit on.

It's always a trip to see a view you have seen for 40 years but with the turbines there in the background. Slowly, these rural areas are losing vital services one by one. The specialists stop coming to the hospital, even on rotation. The dentists and optometrists retire out and unless someone growing up there has a passion for teeth and genetically modified corn then the roles get pushed out to the bigger cities, 30-45m away.

Re: American solar farms

#225

Post by wingworks »

bluGill wrote: post #63
jstanley wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the kinds of power plant, a solar farm has to be the least intrusive.

Nuclear is a good candidate - they take up a lot less land mass for the amount of power generated. I used to leave near one, and when my neighbors where asked where it was most pointed instead to a coal power plant many miles away.

In theory I wouldn't mind living next to nuclear. I say in theory, because we've seen too many times when someone cuts corners, or has deadlines or poorly trained staff on site, that when things go wrong, they can sometimes go very very wrong.

Re: American solar farms

#226

Post by BeetleB »

dzonga wrote: post #45

the sad thing about this data is how politicized clean energy has become. the blue states have a lot of energy solar - while the red ones are sparse. the red ones get a lot of sun while the blue ones don't.

Eh?

Looking at, say, wind energy, the top 4 states are all red states. Their cumulative amount handily is more than the next so many states.

That's absolute energy. If you want to go by percentage of energy that is wind, it's the same - the top 4 are red states. In fact, 7 of the top 10 are:

https://www.chooseenergy.com/data-center/wind-generation-by-...

I haven't looked at solar, but it doesn't seem there's a clear divide.

Re: American solar farms

#227

Post by zie »

t1234s wrote: post #222

Solar panels == shade. Any companies deploying solar in this manner (parking lots, pedestrian trails, bus benches, etc..)

Yes, many companies are doing this in their parking lots, even some govt buildings do this. My local library has panels setup over part of their parking lot for instance.

Re: American solar farms

#228

Post by adabyron »

whatisthiseven wrote: post #213
adabyron wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There seems to be a decent counter argument about the size & impact to local environment. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/massive-esmeralda-s... I do not have a side as I don't know enough.

I think every engineer knows that all things come with trade-offs. A great engineer, however, is able to readily admit when one option among others has a far, far greater set of costs than another, for the exact same benefit. And if said engineer can't decide (for claim of ignorance), they mature to learn that the experience and knowledge of others is the best source for understanding the trade-offs involved to make…

Interesting that just sharing a link of the trade-offs got a bunch of down votes when I didn't even take a side.

Maybe it was a misunderstanding of my intentions to purely share information based on your reply.

If you don't mind, please help me understand. Did it come across as anti-solar in general? That's how I'm interpreting your reply.

The article, which I wonder if anyone read, argues local environmental concerns based on the giant size of the solar farm. One of those things was mountain sheep that migrate across the lands. This would be creating a wall of sorts. Another was Native American archeology. What I'm ignorant of is if any of these issues were addressed at all & what the impact is.

In a general sense, I'm a huge fan of solar farms. I think they make more sense than using land to plant corn for energy, which funny enough also got me down votes here.

Re: American solar farms

#229

Post by [deleted] »

RALaBarge wrote: post #224
paulnpace wrote: post #8

My experience has been that people living next to newly constructed solar farms are unhappy about living next to a solar farm. It is also my experience that this is a fringe opinion because a very low percentage of people live next to solar farms.

I come from rural Michigan and everyone in the areas where the turbines are complain about it. Its the view or its the sound. The former sure, the latter I haven't heard it myself but I don't go home anymore. It is also the only new investments made in the area in 50 years in any which way shape or form. When they first started, they had to build the infrastructure and stations to collect the power to transport it fr…

[deleted]

Re: American solar farms

#230

Post by adabyron »

t1234s wrote: post #222

Solar panels == shade. Any companies deploying solar in this manner (parking lots, pedestrian trails, bus benches, etc..)

This gets proposed a lot. The reason it isn't more frequent is due to the cost of the structure to hold the panels & risks of people running into them.

It would be great if these costs could come down. Parking lots, animal pastures & other areas could be protected & create energy at the same time.

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