Hail destroys solar farm.

[Zogman]

 

[Zogman]

Baseball-sized hail took out a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on Monday, part of a giant supercell thunderhead that moved across eastern Wyoming and into Nebraska.

The hail shattered most of the panels on the 5.2-megawatt solar project, sparing an odd panel like missing teeth in a white smile.

Wyoming has only one commercial-scale solar farm, but a second project is under construction south of Cheyenne.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its the highest category for hail risk on the national index.

 

[KDM]

Baseball-sized hail took out a solar farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on Monday, part of a giant supercell thunderhead that moved across eastern Wyoming and into Nebraska.

The hail shattered most of the panels on the 5.2-megawatt solar project, sparing an odd panel like missing teeth in a white smile.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks this area in its the highest category for hail risk on the national index.

So naturally, that's where you build a hail susceptible solar farm. SMH.............

 

[NDbowman]

the solar panels we use to run wells to water cows are surprisingly tough. They've survived some pretty damaging hail storms but I'd imagine baseball size hail would destroy them.
Only ever had one get damaged and it just cracked the outer shell, still produced power and still pumped water.

 

[LBrandt]

One hell of an insurance claim. But knowing our government there was no insurance, cutting corners, LB

 

[PrairieGhost]

One hell of an insurance claim. But knowing our government there was no insurance, cutting corners, LB

Think about this for a minute. Insurance companies insure millions of people gambling on only tens of thousands filling claims. The insurance companies come out billions of dollars ahead with this scheme. As large as our government is they would be foolish to spend 100s of millions on premiums only to file claims for 10s of millions.

 

[Wally World]

Typical government...if it weren't for government grants you would never see even one of these worthless solar farms or windfarms or ethanol plants in America. Everyone is a losing venture. Let the free enterprise system work and not the government enterprise system which fails 100% of the time!

 

[Allen]

Am I missing something here? There seems to be a lot of government bashing, but I would assume this is a privately funded operation.

Also, so far as I know, neither the federal or state level governments buy insurance. They are self-insured.

Seems like we are reaching for something to complain about here.

 

[JMF]

Am I missing something here? There seems to be a lot of government bashing, but I would assume this is a privately funded operation.

Also, so far as I know, neither the federal or state level governments buy insurance. They are self-insured.

Seems like we are reaching for something to complain about here.

Federal tax credits. They aren't tax deductions, straight cash per megawatt produced. I'm not sure what solar gets but wind was $28 per megawatt a few years ago.

 

[ORCUS DEMENS]

Wally, on the topic of large solar plants, Texas avoided reaching crises levels with solar outproducing coal plants during the recent heat dome event. I believe solar accounted for 20% of electricity produced on their grid.

 

[JMF]

Wally, on the topic of large solar plants, Texas avoided reaching crises levels with solar outproducing coal plants during the recent heat dome event. I believe solar accounted for 20% of electricity produced on their grid.

Replacing base load coal with solar is going to put Texas right back in the same position they were in during the last polar vortex.

 

[PrairieGhost]

I dont give much attention to solar used for our grid, but it sure works great on the camper. My wife and I just spent two weeks in Montana, Idaho, and the Washington Cascades. I never started the generator once. I only carried an extra two gallons of gas for the generator and I gave that to an older couple from Canada on a Harley. They had run out of gas on Lolo pass after the visitor station closed and no one but us there.

 

[svnmag]

If you want to be stupid as shit all the time shouldn't you employ a shield like a Democrat, Media or Lexan?...

 

[Allen]

Federal tax credits. They aren't tax deductions, straight cash per megawatt produced. I'm not sure what solar gets but wind was $28 per megawatt a few years ago.

Well, that's not necessarily a wrong way to look at it.

 

[ORCUS DEMENS]

JMF, it was the coal and natural gas facilities that failed during the polar vortex. They were down for extended periods due to not receiving recommended upgrades to prevent failure after the previous arctic outbreak. Wind was back online within days as ice melted. These have blades do not have de-icers like those in colder climates.

 

[johnr]

I have been told our wind generators are here because Germany already tried to make this shit work, and it failed horribly, as they cannot ever out produce the cost, and it takes as much oil to make, maintain, and run these fucking things as they claim they are saving.
but they sure are pretty dotting the sky line all over western ND

 

[espringers]

i recently had a conversation regarding the enderlin area and those wind farms. besides free &/or cheap power for the residents a lot of the time, it turns out ND is becoming a haven for super computing because of all of the excess power these wind farms are producing that they can't find a customer for and/or can't get it where it needs to go. these super computing shacks are pretty much free to cool in the winter as opposed to other climates and they are eating up a an astronomical amount of energy from these wind farms in periods of peak performance where it has no where else to go.

 

[Prairie Doggin']

I have been told our wind generators are here because Germany already tried to make this shit work, and it failed horribly, as they cannot ever out produce the cost, and it takes as much oil to make, maintain, and run these fucking things as they claim they are saving.
but they sure are pretty dotting the sky line all over western ND

I feel like this assessment is exactly right.
●Dig up the iron ore using big ass diesel equipment.
●Smelt iron ore, likely using coal.
●Haul wind towers piece by piece to installation location -- guessing it takes 6 trucks, minimum, to get everything there, but admittedly do not know.
●Install towers using diesel powered equipment.
●Send a guy out to repair non-working tower periodically in gas powered vehicle.
●Green energy!

 

[Wally World]

Wally, on the topic of large solar plants, Texas avoided reaching crises levels with solar outproducing coal plants during the recent heat dome event. I believe solar accounted for 20% of electricity produced on their grid.

Do you recall what happened to your solar panels when Texas had the big snow/ice storm? Also, if solar is so good and reliable, why does the government have to subsidize it with taxpayer money?

 

[Wally World]

the solar panels we use to run wells to water cows are surprisingly tough. They've survived some pretty damaging hail storms but I'd imagine baseball size hail would destroy them.
Only ever had one get damaged and it just cracked the outer shell, still produced power and still pumped water.

Can I ask if you were government subsidized for your solar panel system? Or did you purchase it with 100% of your own money?