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American solar farms

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Re: American solar farms

#131

Post by bluGill »

alnwlsn wrote: post #98
chasd00 wrote: post #36

I’ve seen some of the ones out in far west Texas. They’re amazing, you see this blue shimmer on the horizon that looks about the size of a lake and then when you eventually get close enough it turns out to be a huge solar array. There’s some smaller ones just south of dfw that I drive by when going hiking at a state park my wife likes. Still impressive but nothing like the giant farms in west Texas.

Texas also has a lot of wind power. I was driving though at night one time and there were turbines on either side of the road as far as could be seen. Thing is, they are tall so they have those red airplane warning lights on top - which would all flash at exactly the same time. A rather trippy thing to see.

Depending on which one, most of them don't have airplane warning lights. There have been extensive study, and if done right you can only light up a small number but because the lights are synchronized that is a better stay away indication than having a light one them all. (lights not synchronized is a disaster - too many lights to keep track of)

Re: American solar farms

#132

Post by marcusb »

dylan604 wrote: post #126
marcusb wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very frivolous argument against solar farms given the amount of noise and other pollution emanating from regular farms. Farm-scale irrigation is not silent. Crop Dusters are not silent. Combines and other tractors are not silent. Burning fields are both not silent and release a tremendous amount of sooty smoke that spreads far beyond the boundaries of a farm. Farms make a lot of noise.

Crop dusters do not run 24/7, nor do the combines or other tractors.

Really? I had no idea! Thanks for clearing that up.

Re: American solar farms

#133

Post by fringol »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #128
fringol wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are male, and retain male physiological advantage even if they undergo interventions like testosterone suppression. It's not the only route by which a male athlete with such advantage might compete in women's sport, nor is it an issue limited to the USA. This is a broader issue affecting the fairness of women's sport in competitions across the world. For instance, all three medallists in the women's 800m at the…

> They are male No they are not. You can debate physical advantages but I won’t indulge transphobia. If you can’t stop then I have no desire to continue this discussion.

[flagged]

Re: American solar farms

#134

Post by Scoundreller »

frenchman_in_ny wrote: post #114
chasd00 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texas is about as red as it gets and leads the nation in renewable energy including solar. Red or blue, if the gov can setup a situation where renewable energy is profitable then nature will take its course. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/texas-tops-us-states...

There's a very specific reason (or quirk) as to why Texas leads the nation in renewable energy -- ERCOT. Basically, 90% of Texas' electric load is serviced by in-state assets, and they have very few interconnections to the rest of the grid. The electricity dispatch curve is priced on the margin, on the cost to operate the last-fired generator (natural gas), and ERCOT has moved to grow solar as a way to reduce prices.…

What's their argument against interconnects though?

Especially as you install more wind and solar, capturing (or sending) generation across a wider geographic area should regress-to-the-mean production and consumption better without turning on peaking plants that may be on for only hours a year. Or get natgas generation from areas where the natgas infra hasn't frozen solid.

Re: American solar farms

#135

Post by bluGill »

sigwinch wrote: post #88
criley2 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most the best land for solar farms in the west half of the US is controlled by the federal government. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Ma... For example, there basically will not be large scale solar in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, etc under this administration. You know, some of the highest value spots.

I’m not sure land is the controlling factor. Look at current fuel mix: the upper Midwest is mostly coal, with all its disadvantages. How was it possible for Iowa, South Dakota, and Kansas to choose wind?

Iowa choose wind because 20 years ago it wasn't an issue and someone put in a clause that made building wind an advantage to utilities so they tried. By the time wind became an issue elsewhere there was too much installed in Iowa for anyone to be able to claim it couldn't work and in turn those who made it political have to be quiet about it when they come to Iowa.

Re: American solar farms

#136

Post by scarecrowbob »

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'm quite happy to live next to a 4kw "farm" because without it I would have had to run a $25k easement to get power to the property where i live.

I'm less than $8k in on the solar part of this and it's been more reliable than my neighbor's grid power.

But maybe my enjoyment of the panel set is also a "fringe" opinion. I know folks that live near larger installations with less direct impacts and they seem to have fewer feelings about those plants.

Re: American solar farms

#137

Post by scarecrowbob »

cainxinth wrote: post #22
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.

Who enjoys living next to a power plant of any kind?

Me- it's much cheaper to have panels than it would have been to run power to my property and I put them in a place with minimal aesthetic impace.

Re: American solar farms

#138

Post by Scoundreller »

dylan604 wrote: post #118
dzonga wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in texas before & the first time I saw massive wind farms alongside oil pumps was in texas. wind turbines are wonderful things to look at. but yeah some of those were constructed in the years there was a "blue" admin n I guess market forces took over too.

If you can use free energy to power your pumps to bring out that oil that just means there's that much more profit in the dinosaur juice

At least it's only natgas for electricity, which is less valuable than oil.

Saudi Arabia generates ~41% of its electricity from oil, 59% from natgas and https://www.eia.gov/international/data/country/SAU/electrici...

Re: American solar farms

#140

Post by bluGill »

ellisv wrote: post #68
IAmBroom wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having farmers in the family, I can confirm they are unhappy about living next to anything other than what they grew up next to. Also, the rainfall. Some farmers go from morning to night never saying a word that isn't a complaint about the rainfall being wrong.

> Also, the rainfall. Some farmers go from morning to night never saying a word that isn't a complaint about the rainfall being wrong. Yes. Some of them use proper rain gauges but some just complain about it. Basically none of them understand the difference between a point measurement and an areal average estimate.

Farmers will always have reason to complain about rain.

Farmers need rain, but there is never a perfect time for it to rain. There is always something they need to do that can't be done because it rained. If rain was 100% predictable months in advance farmers would just plan to not do those things on rain days (rain days often last a couple days because things need to dry), but it isn't and so they often are in the middle of something that cannot be interrupted when rain interrupts them.

Of course the other problem is sometimes it doesn't rain and then they can get all the jobs done above - but because there is no rain nothing grew (well) and so the harvests are bad...

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