Solar Farm

[eyexer]

They absolutely should require a bond and bond needs to be transferred to new ownership for cleanup

 

[guywhofishes]

They absolutely should require a bond and bond needs to be transferred to new ownership for cleanup

Like oil wells.

 

[Jigaman]

I'm not supporting solar farms but in regards to hail we have used solar wells to pump water to cattle for a long time. The first one is probably 25 years old and still pumping water. The others are a bit newer and all are working fine. They've all been through hail storms and never been damaged.

In regards to solar farms, I've heard about in other states what a mess it can lead to. Company comes in and offers a landowner a long term lease. Money is pretty good but in those farms they had to pour concrete pillars or foundation to mount panels on. Something like 4 feet deep. In the contract the company agrees to clean all this up and put the land back the way it was but the way they get out of it is to either file bankruptcy and quit or another company buys the solar farm and basically gets out of the contract. Landowner is left with the mess of all these concrete pillars in the ground making it virtually impossible to farm without a major cost in cleanup.

Regarding the concrete pillars, I don't believe modern solar farms are built using those. They use steel piles that are driven into the ground and the racks the panels are attached to are fastened to these piles. On a project this size there will be hundreds of thousands of these piles. The reason I know this is because I used to work for an engineering firm and we did pile load testing as well as other engineering field services related to both wind and solar energy.

 

[woodduck30]

Great! Our government will not only be creating wind farmers, but now sun farmers.

 

[Rowdie]

What happens to the ground after being covered up for 40 years?

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Wouldn’t solar be more efficient closer to the equator?

 

[BrokenBackJack]

My bride got offers every year for about 10 years to rent for solar panels on her 1/2 section in the Red River Valley. Never took them up on it as we were worried what would happen if they went bankrupt and the mess left to clean up at our expense.

 

[Rowdie]

Wouldn’t solar be more efficient closer to the equator?

That's what I thought but apparently not. I'm guessing that it balances out over the year since there's more daylight in the summer the further north you go. ?? IDK though

 

[guywhofishes]

https://www.whatnextnow.com/home/solar/top-five-factors-determining-solar-energy-potential

Atacama Desert in Chile: supposedly the top solar spot on Earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert

 

[Allen]

I've seen the big solar farms south of Vegas.

Pretty sure I wouldn't want one as my neighbor. But solar panel roofing? That I might be talked into, someday.

If it weren't for those fugging terrorists, we'd increasingly be running off of electricity generated through low-grade radioactive decay in our garages. They are called betavoltaic power generators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaic_device

 

[woodduck30]

Wouldn’t solar be more efficient closer to the equator?

No. Tax dollars are tax dollars. No matter where your location is.

 

[Maddog]

If the panels aren't hail-proof it's simply a matter of when - not if.

or heaven forbid a tornado

 

[woodduck30]

Its possible it snows there and they get covered with snow. Unless with global warming it doesn't snow there anymore.

 

[Jigaman]

Its possible it snows there and they get covered with snow. Unless with global warming it doesn't snow there anymore.

They clean the snow off. And in the summer they periodically clean them to optimize performance.

 

[Ruttin]

Here is an article on the subsidies that solar farms get. Pretty astonishing!

https://www.americanexperiment.org/solar-subsidies-amount-to-50000-per-acre/

 

[woodduck30]

They clean the snow off. And in the summer they periodically clean them to optimize performance.

That's reassuring. Just have to wait for the roads to be opened up so the workers can get to there side by side. Then wait for them to blow them off. Obviously this just to get tax dollars. No one in there right mind would rely on solar around here. Our government keeps saying, "you ain't seen nothing yet, watch this"

 

[ORCUS DEMENS]

Tax dollars, like petroleum, carbon capture and other fossil fuel industries get nothing from the federal government. As Allen stated, I am waiting for the solar windows and roofs to reach maturity before I am willing to jump in with those. The major shingle manufacturers already have them and they don't look bad.

 

[eyexer]

Like oil wells.

Oil wells have now for about ten years I believe

 

[Davey Crockett]

Oil wells have now for about ten years I believe

I'm not so sure about that.

 

[guywhofishes]

https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/pressreleases/Part_1_North_Dakota's_Abandoned_Wells.pdf