Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[walhondingMF]

All three questions require knowing the States property laws. Which means all three would require a lawyer.

Great point citydude. The point I am trying to make, however, is that i think the current state's property laws may not be in the best interest of the "right" people here. I do understand that everyone may have differing opinions on these laws and how they may need to change.

 

[Roric]

I have stayed out of this conversation but feel the need to post this.

I have a 7.5kw solar array on a detached garage that has been producing for 41 months. To build this garage we purchased a 1 acre lot next door to our house. This lot had to be cleared of rubbish and was overgrown with mostly "garbage: trees that were mostly in poor health: intergrown, leaning and hollow and dying. I spent a summer clearing it. (I got my Kubota to get this lot in shape.) About 32 mature trees were removed to clear the lot during this operation.
Later the garage was built and after a time the solar array was completed.

In the 41 month the panels have been making watts it has produced 30 mega-watt-hours of electricity. (Even though this is the middle of the "tundra state" of Minnesota.)
Our electric bill is gone for the year. The 30 MW-Hour figure comes directly from the SolarEdge app that monitors this array.

Here is the important fact:

This production is equivalent to 350 trees planted. (from the app)

So 32 trees were removed and the production equals a small forest.
(We have since planted more trees than we removed.)

Your milage may vary but my math works out for me.

regards to all,

R

 

[walhondingMF]

I have stayed out of this conversation but feel the need to post this.

I have a 7.5kw solar array on a detached garage that has been producing for 41 months. To build this garage we purchased a 1 acre lot next door to our house. This lot had to be cleared of rubbish and was overgrown with mostly "garbage: trees that were mostly in poor health: intergrown, leaning and hollow and dying. I spent a summer clearing it. (I got my Kubota to get this lot in shape.) About 32 mature trees were removed to clear the lot during this operation.
Later the garage was built and after a time the solar array was completed.

In the 41 month the panels have been making watts it has produced 30 mega-watt-hours of electricity. (Even though this is the middle of the "tundra state" of Minnesota.)
Our electric bill is gone for the year. The 30 MW-Hour figure comes directly from the SolarEdge app that monitors this array.

Here is the important fact:

This production is equivalent to 350 trees planted. (from the app)

So 32 trees were removed and the production equals a small forest.
(We have since planted more trees than we removed.)

Your milage may vary but my math works out for me.

regards to all,

R

My first post in this thread was the idea that I believe the BEST (not necessarily the most realistic) is that if every home, factory, building, etc produced it's own energy, imagine how much different the landscape would be. Sure I understand it would be even more difficult in the large urban areas, but not impossible. Seems you are on that path roric. Some day, I hope to be able to afford the same.

Call me a "dreamer," but there are good solutions to our problems.

 

[JJT]

According to the Real Estate people most of the houses next to or surrounded by the solar farm will loose 20-50% of value.

Also we are on the TVA system with about the lowest energy rates in the country. When TVA was contacted they knew nothing about the solar farm. Who are they selling the power to?

RSKY

For every study that says surrounding home prices will decrease there is one that says home prices will increase. I'd personally pay a premium knowing I'd have good neighbors for the next 30 years. I've said it before, many times, good neighbors are priceless.

 

[lman]

I've got corn and bean fields for neighbors here. I think they look better than solar panels and they suck up carbon dioxide.

 

[TN8Man]

For the sake of progress on this topic, I would like to make a point...

I think we can all agree that cutting acres of trees down for any activity is a negative to some degree. I think we can all agree that removing grassland/ farmland for any activity to some degree is a negative. I think we can all agree that anyone losing property value (because its really the most valuable thing anyone has) because of what their neighbors do is a negative to a large degree.

We have been having a discussion about the wrong thing. The 3 things I listed above can and do happen for any and all forms of energy production (as I and many others have referenced already). We shouldn't be debating which form of energy production options we think are best. We should be discussing 1. how much right one land owner has over their neighbor when one's actions will impact the others 2. what or if the impacted property owner has a right to fair compensation for the loss in value 3. the power that energy corporations have with little responsibility (just ask West Virginia and Kentucky about how well off the coal industry has left them) and 4. what is truly the best way to power our lifestyles. I have my opinions on all of these and I am interested in the opinion of others.

Thanks for bearing with me on that.

You make good points but I look at the issue more as a national issue. A nations energy policies is a national security on several levels including economic, societal and military (abiility to defend our nation from adversaries). Its these key factors that are being impacted by the recent radical change to our energy policies. The economy is in a downturn and the Federal Reserve has even recently stated we are going to see a recession later this year. The recent energy policy changes has made our electrical grid unstable and unreliable where we now consider rolling blackouts as the norm when a decade or so ago this was extremely rare. Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been depleted due to energy policy changes and this impacts military readiness if and when we enter a hot war which is a highly probability now that the USA and NATO has entered the Ukraine Russia war. We also have the China - Taiwan cold war getting ready to go hot and we are committed to protect Taiwan.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

personally I wouldn't want panels close just for the aesthetics. Change is often uncomfortable.

but living in an ag. area I also wouldn't want
- a new hog lagoon across the road (smell)
- the dust and noise during seeding / harvest (dust)
- the smell during manure application process (smell)
- an industrial warehouse or storage facility (spoils view)
- a wind farm (spoils view)
- cell tower (spoils view)
- a cattle finishing lot (smell and view)
- a chicken barn (smell and view)
- feed manufacturing facilty (dust and smell)
- hay storage facility (smell and rats)
-etc...

I guess I am getting cranky as I age, I just don't like change

 

[Fixastuff]

I've got corn and bean fields for neighbors here. I think they look better than solar panels and they suck up carbon dioxide.

I like the fields around me. Except when they're spraying chemicals.

 

[orezok]

There has been a lot of negativity regarding solar, but how about a very positive story.

 

[MossRoad]

I've got corn and bean fields for neighbors here. I think they look better than solar panels and they suck up carbon dioxide.

But they don't keep carbon dioxide. They just hold it for the 3-4 months in the field, and release it again when the plants are chopped up and decompose, or the corn kernels are converted to some other thing.

And then you have the fuel to plant, maintain, harvest. The chemicals in the fertilizers and pesticides. Any added irrigation if applicable. And plenty of soil erosion from wind and rain anytime the field has no cover crop.

It's been proven and documented that solar installation is much easier on the land than farming it.