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In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

theguardian.com

51–60 of 228 posts

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#51
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building HVDC lines from North Africa to Europe, for example, wouldn't be a huge feat of civil engineering. Rather standard stuff, really.

we don't need something that long distance at all EU has enough areas with sparse population and not that much nature which also are south enough to have it work out well with solar panels of the current generations. And besides that even most EU countries have enough places in them to still put a lot of solar panels without much issues and/or replacing fields. going as far as North Africa is a bit too far to be conv…

"from North Africa to Europe" is, to be clear, ~9 miles in spots.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#52

Denmark is a poor location for solar. They are pretty far north and don't have a lot of sunny days that are good for solar generation. When they do, those peaks drive energy prices negative. From the article: Over the next 10 years, the official expectation is a very large rise in the amount of solar produced. But that kind of clashes with the reality on the ground – they can’t make money

That's a terrible argument on the face of it. "They can't make any energy, but also they make so much energy they can't use it all". I actually live in Denmark, and we can produce solar energy just fine. My dad installed rooftop solar 10 years ago, and that thing has 90% of his electricity usage since then. It's still producing at around 85% capacity too.

> that thing has 90% of his electricity usage

How is that supposed to work with cloudy days with barely 7 hours of daylight in winter?

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a terrible argument on the face of it. "They can't make any energy, but also they make so much energy they can't use it all". I actually live in Denmark, and we can produce solar energy just fine. My dad installed rooftop solar 10 years ago, and that thing has 90% of his electricity usage since then. It's still producing at around 85% capacity too.

> that thing has 90% of his electricity usage How is that supposed to work with cloudy days with barely 7 hours of daylight in winter?

In New England it works fine and we project 3 hours of production during the winter months. Not sure what Denmark’s latitude is, but 7 hours of production is not needed.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a terrible argument on the face of it. "They can't make any energy, but also they make so much energy they can't use it all". I actually live in Denmark, and we can produce solar energy just fine. My dad installed rooftop solar 10 years ago, and that thing has 90% of his electricity usage since then. It's still producing at around 85% capacity too.

> that thing has 90% of his electricity usage How is that supposed to work with cloudy days with barely 7 hours of daylight in winter?

Solar has always been a part of a wholistic strategy. We’ve known this ever since the sun went down at night and we had to compensate for it.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#55

not buying that this isn't anti renewable propaganda for the US the images in the article looks bad until you take a short look at satellite images and realize: - it's not the norm but the exception - the photos are made to make it look maximally bad in a deceptive/manipulative way, and that is even in context, that Denmark is a special case in that it both quite small and has little "dead" (not agriculturally effici…

"not buying that this isn't anti renewable propaganda for the US" Its the Guardian so that is a very unlikely motivation.

The guardian have previously been found to generate a significant amount of ad revenue from fossil fuel companies. They aren't politically aligned with it, but are financially. Remember that a large portion of the left in the UK are also anti-solar since they are pro-green nature and they have yet to make a choice on this.

P.s I am pro renewable and pro-solar/wind/nuclear just to clarify that this is nothing about my personal beliefs.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#56
The absurdity of the climate debate is that “we” talk almost constantly about two energy sources (wind and solar) that in no way have the potential to provide the stable baseload power required to electrify society. And unless nature has blessed your country with abundant geothermal or hydroelectric power, that leaves you with the following options: oil, coal, or nuclear power.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#57

Denmark is a poor location for solar. They are pretty far north and don't have a lot of sunny days that are good for solar generation. When they do, those peaks drive energy prices negative. From the article: Over the next 10 years, the official expectation is a very large rise in the amount of solar produced. But that kind of clashes with the reality on the ground – they can’t make money

If it's a poor location for photovoltaics, it's exactly as a poor for photosynthesis

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#58
I took a stroll recently through the countryside around Swindon, UK, where there’s a massive new solar farm on formerly arable land. One thing I only just realised was how the view from the ground is so badly affected when you’re down amidst the endless rows of panels - they reach well above head height.

It’s basically like walking through a industrial estate, just with more grass in between. Really very bleak.

Give me an onshore wind farm over this.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#59

I took a stroll recently through the countryside around Swindon, UK, where there’s a massive new solar farm on formerly arable land. One thing I only just realised was how the view from the ground is so badly affected when you’re down amidst the endless rows of panels - they reach well above head height. It’s basically like walking through a industrial estate, just with more grass in between. Really very bleak. Give…

Are you sure it’s arable land? The majority of solar farms in the UK are built on low-grade land that aren’t suitable for growing food.

Re: In Denmark, the spread of solar panels has become a divisive issue

#60

I took a stroll recently through the countryside around Swindon, UK, where there’s a massive new solar farm on formerly arable land. One thing I only just realised was how the view from the ground is so badly affected when you’re down amidst the endless rows of panels - they reach well above head height. It’s basically like walking through a industrial estate, just with more grass in between. Really very bleak. Give…

Needs a beauty strip of trees around the panels.
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