Yeah!!! I know what I’ve “heard” 2nd, 3rd hand. It’s pretty interesting stuff to get some insight
| LIFE A phone photo thread...
- Thread starter Brandon Van de Graaff
- Start date
There's a ton of government subsidies in the initial construction. The real test, as with most any project, will be if the useful life and maintenance costs approximate original projections.
PurlJam
Member
Retired Alabama Power, Now with one of those evil "Green Energy" companies.
PurlJam
Member
There is and the issue I share with the other PMs in the region is these construction companies do a piss poor job on their workmanship trying to cut cost and make as much money as they can. Getting them to cover their warranties is a nightmare too. Things you see as well as pretty much everything you see in the media about this stuff is completely false.
1. No way, no how is "Green Energy" going to replace Gas, Coal, and Nukes. There is no way to control the "fuel" source. It's simple as this, sun don't shine, I don't make power, wind don't blow, wind site doesn't make power. The solar sites that have a BESS can only sustain around 4 hours of power at night.
All honesty, the government needs to get out of it and let Elon run the renewable side of things. JMO
Justneedme81
Member
Where in Cherokee as My wife's from there. We would love to see it on way back.
PurlJam
Member
Last edited:
@PurlJam
Man, that's a lot of solar, looks like about four sections or 2,500 acres gross. Was the substation built in conjunction with the farm?
I have a limited knowledge on the potential for long-term impacts from solar farms. The lease contracts I've seen are for ten years, extendable another ten years. Then, the farmer is required to keep their land fallow for an additional ten years after equipment is removed. I've heard competing rationales for this. The first that something is leaching into the soil. The second is that the current kills necessary microbes in the soil and will take time to replenish.
Do you know why the fallow requirement is in the land lease contracts?
PurlJam
Member
It is 3000 acres (Nameplate 238 MW). It's the largest site in Alabama. We don't have anything that can leach into the soil here. The panels are made out of Silicon and the inverters have dry transformers (No oil or any type of liquid cooling system). If the current is killing necessary microbes, it's definitely not hurting the vegetation or wildlife, we have everything from Osprey, Hawks, Deer, and Skunks everywhere. My biggest expense is paying for a vegetation management company year around to keep the weeds and grass beat down. I don't know why fallow requirements are in the land leases. Our PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) with TVA is 20 years
Thanks for the response. I knew that was a big piece of land.
In terms of panels, I'm sure those are much, much better built than a home or off-grid product, but is there anything you'd personally look for in a small system that some don't offer?
PurlJam
Member
Yeah, the panels are more robust and larger than what you would find for a home. I would look for one with a tracker system that tracks the sun east to west and will also find the highest irradiance position on cloudy days (known as diffuse mode). Im not sure if smaller systems offer these options but they would definitely be worth checking out.
Spending the weekend in Fort Lauderdale ahead of a Monday meeting. Some friends have an old family condo that was his Dad’s for decades, classic old condo, circa 1962, tenth floor, end unit. They have almost completed a wonderful update to it, keeping the old tile but really upgrading things. Caught the big ships coming in this morning at the cruise terminal. Sitting here, I can see the allure of south Florida.
Outside watching the games by the fire tonight…
Just got to homestead area on way to key west. South Florida winters are the best.
Guess it pays better than farming?
PurlJam
Member
The land here wasn't used for farming, it was a "wetland." The landowners getting a lot of bang for their buck on this one as it couldn't have been used for much of anything else.
Did you get pictures? I did we both can show them off!!Thought about posting pics of my Colonoscopy today, but the anesthesia wore off. Y'all welcome.
PurlJam
Member
NO!!!!!!!
I did learn 2 things.1. My wife can't ever tell me I'm full of shit again.
2. Dr. told me something I already knew. I'm just one big asshole.
So now Ive got actual confirmation on both.
