rontaki
Gold Member
Not to worry! We'll convert it to run on electricity provided by underground solar panels.
Dont quote me on this, but I believe solar farms are allowed in Ag zoning.
HawkinsHollow
Veteran Member
I hear all of these people commenting on solar replacing agricultural land and I get it, food insecurity and rising food prices is not something we need more of. But to be honest it seem like there is plenty of land that is not being farmed out there right now. As I drove from TN to Colorado this summer it was a bit alarming the amount of farmland that was not in production through the prime Ag regions of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. I was very surprised at the amount of fallow land there was this summer.
So, in Florida, a solar farm is no different from any other farm. Local ordinances may require set backs or landscape buffers; but those can't be strict than any other farm activities. Honestly, it kinda makes sense; how's a panel different than an orange or pine tree? It might not be pretty, but neither is a chicken house; and i can tell you, id rather live 200 ft from a solar field than a chicken house....
Also, given the choice, I would rather be next to a solar field than a wind farm
Also, given the choice, I would rather be next to a solar field than a wind farm
So, I think people have good intentions, but... solar absorbing some marginal ag lands isn't bad. Farms rely on land prices to back their loans, which are required to operate, expand, improve, modernize. There is no food shortage, and honestly, we over produce. Food prices are largely not tied to a production problem.
Someone up above mentioned wishing it was out into a conservative easement (or maybe im thinking of a local fight about a music park?), but for a local economy and also the county government; conservative easement is terrible. It adds no value, takes land out of production/circulation/tax revenue, Forever.
From a macro economics point of view; the solar farm is producing a commodity; the is used locally. It's built using labor, which needs housed/feed. It does use less labor than the farm after built, and less inputs. Also, yes, much of the material is imported, but.
LouNY
Super Star Member
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These damned solar farms are waste of money, TAXPAYER MONEY. Not a single one of them would proceed without major tax incentives. They are not a reliable and consistent power generation. The removal and cleanup when they fail to produce as promised is going to be problematic and expensive. The power generated is seldom used in the vicinity of the production but transported via the infrastructure to larger population centers. Which is were it should be generated, all these parking lots and roof tops were the power is going to be used, is where it should be generated. Nuclear power is a much more viable and reliable power then solar for large scale production. All this wind and solar is just wasteful of resources.
I did a quick AI query; and Solar produces between $6000-28000 per acre per year, with a normal number closer to $15-21k. Peanuts produce $600-1350 gross per year, with a more normal number of $800-1200.
If we run it with pulp wood pine plantation, its even worse.
If we run it with pulp wood pine plantation, its even worse.
Cost to remove? What, $5/ton, $15/ton, $25/ton? What's the cost to remove pine stumps, and haul them to a C&D dump?
On the tax funded, I did a quick search, and couldn't find any real numbers, but yes, they do get tax credits.
I have talked to a FPL engineer about the solar farms, and per him, its not great, its not terrible, from a $ standpoint point; its largely about speed to place into production. A new power plant is going to take a min of 5 years to design/permit; and 5 years to construct. So, min 10 years; a solar farm can be planned and permitted in 6 months, built in 18 months, and in production at 2 years.
What's the land impact of extending a 36" HP gas main to a new thermal plant? Not saying its more, (or less), but there is one. No free lunch.
Local thermal plant is 650 MW plant, used to 1300, but they shut one generator down, and converted other to NG. In theory, thats about 3500-6500 acres of solar farms. Yep, fairly large, but thats only 10 square miles. How much unproductive lands does the county have? Probably a lot. I did a search, and we have 84,000 acres in active ag production, in my county. So, there is worse things than a small-medium farmer selling 640 acres to go into solar, as his retirement.
It's NOT a replacement, but its a supplement.
It's NOT a replacement, but its a supplement.
