Reasons include:

1. Solar arrays have a low profile and modular design, which is compatible with low-demand airport property.

2. Solar arrays are designed to absorb sunlight (rather than reflect it), minimizing potential impacts of glare.

3. Solar arrays don't attract wildlife, which is a critical aviation hazard.

Resources

🔵 FAA Technical Guidance for Evaluating Selected Solar Technologies on Airports

🔵 Airports and Solar Arrays: An Overview

🔵 Benefits of Airport Solar Farms

Solar panels provide shade and reduce soil moisture loss. Combine that with solar trackers which allow water and light to penetrate better under panels and you have the basic ingredients for an amazing agricultural partnership.

Agrivoltaics are still in their infancy stage. New ideas and technologies are being tried daily. Dual use of the land holds much promise. It's just another reason why Low Impact Solar Farm Design makes so much sense. We in Reno County could be pioneers in this area, if only we were allowed to have commercial solar farms.

Resources

🔵 Can agriculture and solar farms coexist? It depends

🔵 Agrivoltaics: Coming Soon to a Farm Near You?

🔵 InSPIRE -Innovative Solar Practices in Rural Economies and Ecosystems

🔵 Made in the Shade: The Promise of Farming with Solar Panels

🔵 What businesses should know about the evolution of rural solar

🔵 Solar Grazing Checklist for Shepherds and Solar Site Managers

🔵 Agrivoltaic Success Factors in the United States

The fact is that for years the solar industry has recommended using water (and often just rain) to clean panels, but water alone might not be an effective cleaner in certain situations.

Additives may be used to enhance the cleaning performance of water. Below is information on a common commercially available solar panel cleaner. As you can see it contains no phosphorus or harsh chemicals and is biodegradable.

Resources

🔵 Large Array Solar Panel Cleaning -Polywater Solar Panel Cleaner

🔵 Technical Data Sheet Polywater SPW Solar Panel Wash

🔵 Safety Data Sheet -Product Name: Polywater Solar Panel Wash

Also, solar farms are front loaded in cost and their future cost is extremely stable as their fuel is free. Nobody has any idea of what fossil fuels will cost in the future.

But, there are additional considerations.

Since solar farms are an intermittent power source, we have to storage systems or base load generation systems to carry the load when solar isn't producing. This adds cost and complexity, but delivers higher efficiency. A good comparison would be a hybrid car, which has a fossil fuel engine, gas tank, transmission, batteries, and electric motors. More complex to build, but overall greater efficiency and better economics in the end.

Solar farms are currently subsidized, but so are fossil fuels. In fact, all forms of energy come with government subsidies, with the prize for most subsidies per MW going to nuclear energy. Those who claim solar farms couldn't exist without being propped up by government subsidies in 2024 are simply spreading a political narrative.

Fossil fuels have additional costs as well. For instance, we have never fought a war to control solar fields. Can the same be said about oil fields?

Not only are fossil fuels nonrenewable, but they are also a cause of various adverse environmental effects. Burning fossil fuels is the leading producer of anthropogenic CO2, which has contributed significantly to global warming. Notable effects include stronger storms, global warming, melting ice in the Arctic, rising sea levels, and poor crop yields.

So, comparing costs on an apples to apples basis gets a little complicated, but the trend is clear: In the vast majority of the US, renewable energy is our least expensive and lowest environmental footprint energy source now, and will continue to decrease in cost in the future.

Resources

🔵 Evergy video on how wind and solar save customers money

🔵 Ernest & Young Energy and Resources Transition Acceleration model

🔵 Solar power got cheap. So why aren’t we using it more?

🔵 Coal Cost Crossover 3.0

🔵 US renewable energy farms outstrip 99% of coal plants economically

🔵 Renewables are on track to keep getting cheaper and cheaper

In all cases the costs of removal are borne by the solar farm owner, not the public or landowner.

There are no statewide decommissioning rules in Kansas, so it is left up to the Counties to determine, mostly in the CUP (Conditional Use Permit) process. Decommissioning specifics should be a priority sorted out at the beginning of the project.

Some of the lessor thought of issues that should be addressed include soil compaction by removal equipment, erosion potential after decommissioning, and obtaining a final sign off from the landowner before any bond monies are released.

🔵 Solar farms are built to last 30 years. Who pays to clean them up after that?

🔵 What happens when a solar facility is decommissioned?

🔵 Decommissioning Utility-Scale Solar Facilities -Virginia Localities

🔵 Decommissioning Solar Panel Systems -NY Solar Guidebook

Toxicity is measured by concentration of the toxin. One drop of cyanide spread over the state of Kansas won't harm anyone, but that same drop on the tip of your tongue means certain death. If you (erroneously) believe that solar panels are toxic, then it would hold true for 10 acres as well as 1,000 acres, as the the panels themselves are the same and the concentration of panels per acre are the same.

For regulation and planning purposes, the logical extension of this reality should be a decision that either solar farms are a good use of County land, or they are not. Project size really shouldn’t matter much. If you believe that a 10 acre solar farm can be a good neighbor, which our County Commissioners have already said they do, then by logical extension so can a larger solar farm. The overall impact per acre is exactly the same.

Drain tile is piping buried below the surface of the soil to carry water away. It is usually used in situations where standing water and/or too much soil moisture is an issue. Lines can get damaged for many reasons, and repairs are a standard procedure for damaged drain tile.

There are not always maps of tile fields available to developers/contractors when installing piers/piles for a solar farm. Most solar farms will drive a 9" pier 16-20 feet apart in rows, that are 30 feet apart. While the odds of hitting a tile line are low, it is a possibility. It is also possible the line could be hit and the contractor not realize it.

If drainage tile is present in a field, it is important to make everyone aware and supply a map, if possible. In any event, the developer should be held contractually fully responsible for mitigation of any damaged tiles, whether realized at the time of installation, or later when the farm is in operation. There should also be a defined process in place to handle complaints from any affected neighbors as well, with remediation the expected outcome.

Resources

🔵 Best Practices to Protect Private Drainage Systems

🔵 Union Ridge Solar Drain Tile Mitigation Plan

In Reno County, for a hypothetical 1,000 acre solar farm generating around 170 MW of power the total positive economic impact to the County is $2,267,966.58 per year, or a total of $68,038,997.40 over a 30 year typical lifespan. In this review you will see that at NO time do property tax revenues decrease from existing levels; they only increase. The monetary impact for all taxing entities is only positive, never negative.

The review is simplified, very conservative, worst case scenario, and breaks down how these numbers are calculated. Also, shown below are studies from Minnesota and Ohio, that aren't nearly as conservative, and show much bigger positive financial impacts. The Minnesota study is roughly the same size as the one modeled for Reno County. They are included for comparison.

🔵 Full Reno County review with resource links

🔵 Economic Impact of a Proposed Solar Farm in Freeborn County, Minnesota

🔵 Measuring the Economic Impacts of Utility-Scale Solar in Ohio

Solar panels are a modern scientific miracle that produce man's most valuable form of energy, electricity, with no moving parts. Solar panels mimic photosynthesis in plants by harvesting sunlight, just like plants do.

On average, plants are 1-3% efficient, and yet they underpin all life on our planet. 

Solar panels are incredibly tough and long lasting, and most are warranted for 25 years or so, but they can still produce useful power for many years after that.

On average, solar panels lose .5% efficiency per year. That translates to a 5% loss in 10 years. Detractors will say that if you start out at 20% efficiency and lose 5%, then you are only at 15% after 10 years. This is incorrect and a result of intentional bad math. The loss is 5% of panel production, which translates to a 20% efficient panel operating at 19% after 10 years (20 x .95).

It is estimated that it would only take 1-2% of the land area in the US for solar farms to supply all of our energy needs.

What's truly amazing is how much energy is lost from fossil fuels, in the production of electricity. Fossil fuels may be energy dense, but most of that energy is simply lost by the time it gets to your home. Solar panels have incredible USEFUL efficiency in comparison.

So, in the end, 20% efficiency looks pretty good for now and it will only get better in the future.

Resources

🔵 Solar Panels Get Less Efficient Over Time. Don't Worry About It

🔵 Is Solar Energy Less Efficient Than Non-Renewables?

🔵 We get more useful energy out of renewables than fossil fuels

▶️ The mind-blowing thing we get WRONG about energy

And yet, we require more energy everyday.

Electrical demand is set to skyrocket. Warmer climates need more electricity for cooling. Electrical generation/transmission becomes less efficient in warmer temperatures. AI, data centers, and Crypto all devour electricity. And an energy intensive manufacturing renaissance is happening in the US. Grids will need to be updated and much more generation capacity brought online.

Reducing our energy needs sounds like a solution, but that has never come to fruition. The demand is clear, and only growing.

Renewable energy is now the cheapest energy source to add, with the least overall downside to the environment. It is quicker to build, and positions us for the future. But, it is only part of the solution.

For now, nuclear, hydro, natural gas, and other technologies are a vital part of the mix. Nobody is saying we should go 100% renewable!

But all energy sources have issues.

We have 50 years worth of nuclear fuel left, don't know where to put the waste, and nuclear is the most expensive source by far. The latest reactor just built in Georgia is 10 times more expensive per MW than a new natural gas plant would have been. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, for just one energy type.

Our children are going to inherit an ever warming world, with more limited natural resources, and a greater demand for electricity. For future generations to prosper, we must add significant amounts of renewable energy now, while fossil fuels are still cheap and abundant.

Resources

🔵 International Energy Outlook 2023

🔵 Fueling electric generation

EMF (electro-magnetic field)
Power-frequency EMF, 50 or 60 Hz, carries very little energy, has no ionizing effects, and usually has no thermal effects.

The strength of a magnetic field decreases dramatically with increasing distance from the source. This means that the strength of the field reaching a house or structure will be significantly weaker than it was at its point of origin.

For example, a magnetic field measuring 57.5 milligauss immediately beside a 230 kilovolt transmission line measures just 7.1 milligauss at a distance of 100 feet, and 1.8 milligauss at a distance of 200 feet, according to the WHO in 2010.

The most significant dose of EMF you are likely to recieve actually comes from your mobile phone, which emits very little EMF, but is emitted at extremely close distances to your body. 

EMF from solar farms is not known to be a health hazard in any way.

EMI (electro-magnetic interference)
As for EMI:

“Prior research and field investigations of electromagnetic emission (EME) from Solar PV arrays concluded that they produce extremely low frequency EME similar to electrical appliances and wiring.…At a distance of 150 feet from the inverters, these fields dropped back to very low levels of 0.5 mG or less, and in many cases to much less than background levels (<0.2 mG).”
                        -Air Force Tiger Team Investigation.

In the CUP process it is possible to require a Comsearch GeoPlanner Report to look at radio frequency interference possibilities in the area, if desired. And, the FCC is very particuar about any significant interference and if there was an issue they would be on top of it in no time. The only issue this author has ever been able to find is with over-the-air TV antennas being located too close to inverters, with some slight interference noted. Thus it is recommended to have a 500 ft setback for transformers/inverters from TV antennas. However, modern inverters are heavily shielded and engineered to reduce EMI, so this may or may not be much of a problem today.

GPS
GPS signals are line of site transmissions from orbiting GPS satellites which are powered by, you guessed it, solar panels. These microwave transmissions are completely outside of the range of any interference that could be produced by the inverters or transformers in a solar farm. The basic physics simply doesn't support interference. GPS signal lock has historically only been blocked by overhead extensive tree cover and/or tall buildings. There has never been a known instance of GPS signal interruption by a solar farm located within the US. If there was, once again the FCC would be on top of the situation.

Resources

🔵 Electric & Magnetic Fields

🔵 Electric and Magnetic Fields Associated with the Use of Electric Power

🔵 Electro-Magnetic Interference from Solar Photovoltaic Arrays

🔵 Comsearch GeoPlanner Report -Mobile Phone Carrier High Noon Solar Energy Center

Stormwater runoff is a consideration under normal operating conditions as well. Ground compaction, spacing between rows, panel tilt angles, and vegetation cover can all influence how the ground absorbs water during a storm event. Proper planning and attention to detail are required for best results. Again, an approved comprehensive runoff and erosion plan should be mandatory for the operation phase of the project as well.

Once again, Low Impact Solar Farm Design can help, as trackers allow sunlight and water to better penetrate under the solar panels and encourage plant growth, and soil compaction is reduced as well.

In comparison to agriculture, if done properly, solar farms can improve soil health, reduce nutrient runoff and provide enhanced stormwater management. 

Resources

🔵 Photovoltaic Stormwater Management Research and Testing 2023

🔵 How Solar Power Enhances Rural Ecosystems

🔵 Minimizing environmental impacts of solar farms: a review of current science on landscape hydrology and guidance on stormwater management

Our local anti-renewables activists don’t stop at our county line, they export their efforts, and surrounding counties have buckled to the pressure.

Why do we believe that other counties know something that we don’t?

Do we think they're smarter than we are?

Here in Reno County we've already approved small, 10 acre solar farms for all the zoned area of the County, including within the Cheney Lake Watershed.

Our Reno County Planning Commission has proven they are capable of making their own decisions, based on facts, when it comes to proper use of the land. It's time they heard from Reno County citizens who feel a ban is not the answer, so they know there is support for responsible, effective, and fair commercial solar farm regulation. 

Three of our County Commissioners, on the other hand, need help in that area. If you support sensible solar in Reno County, now is the time to contact them and let your voice be heard.

Let's start by asking a few questions. Do we require that farmers sell their grain locally? Do we require oil producers to sell their oil locally? How about cattle producers, do we require them to sell their beef locally? NO, NO, and NO.

Historically exporting has been a key to wealth and growth for the area doing the exporting. Value is produced in our area, and the product is shipped to those who are willing to pay for it, with a big economic benefit for the region doing the exporting.

Another issue is keeping our electricity and not being a part of the bigger grid. Electricity flows both ways on the grid. It can flow out of State, but electricity can flow into our State and County when we need it as well. The more connected our grid is, the more resilient our energy supply. When we all cooperate, we all benefit.

A final accusation is that the energy gets sent out of state, to large data centers instead of being used locally. While it's true that data centers are a major purchaser of renewable energy, it is also true that we use that power locally by using data center services. With every Google search, with every YouTube video watched, or Facebook post made, we are consuming renewable energy, locally, from these data centers.

Keep in mind that oil and natural gas are extremely important not just for burning, but for the building blocks of materials that underpin our modern life. Nylon, polyester, PVC, medicines, fertilizer and many more substances are made possible by fossil fuel feedstocks.

Fossil fuels are incredibly important to our future, and to our future prosperity.

So how long do we have? Estimates vary from 50 years for proven oil reserves, to 150 year for proven coal reserves. But we will most likely find more along the way. Most likely.

However, if we come to terms with our changing energy needs, adjust our consumption patterns, and utilize renewable and nuclear energy in a meaningful way, hopefully we will never run out of fossil fuels.

Resources

🔵 When Will We Run Out of Fossil Fuels?

🔵 Oil is too Precious to be Used as Transportation Fuel

🔵 Is the decline of oil in sight?

🔵 When Will We Run Out of Oil, and What Happens Then?

🔵 Wikipedia -Peak oil

🔵 When Fossil Fuels Run Out, What Then?

That's not to say that solar panels can't produce glare; at certain sun and viewing angles they can. Solar developers should run glare analysis, along with their other due diligence items, and factor that into their project design as well.

While solar panels can cause some glare and glint, it’s not more than some naturally occurring objects we see all the time, and don't give a 2nd thought to.

Resources

🔵 Research Demonstrate the Lack of Impacts of Glare from Photovoltaic Modules

🔵 Solar Glare -Will panels be a nuisance or unnoticeable?

Consider running wiring inside of ground mounted conduit, where allowed, to avoid trenching. Build as few access roads as possible, and avoid maintenance during wet periods. Use drones for routine inspections.

Soil compaction

Soil compaction can have long term negative consequences for plant growth and erosion control. Soil compaction occurs when soil particles are compressed together—especially when the soil is wet—destroying soil structure, reducing porosity, and leading to a more dense soil that is hard for roots and water to penetrate.

• Avoid construction when the soil is wet

• Practice controlled and limited construction and maintenance traffic

• Utilize equipment with tires (or tracks) and pressures to minimize compaction

• Mechanically mitigate any compaction after construction 

Resources

🔵 Advancing Solar Construction With Grading Design

🔵 Solar can be installed on uneven, hilly sites with relative ease

🔵 How solar trackers overcome undulating terrain – and avoid grading costs

Solar panels are incredibly tough, with long lifespans. Panels have to pass a battery of physical tests to be certified, and are built like the safety glass in your cars windshield to absorb impacts and still hold together. We've produced two videos concerning the topic of hail and toxic solar panels.

1. Reno Solar Ban & Texas Storm.

2. Toxic Solar Panels in Cheney Watershed 

AND:

Since 2005 we’ve built thousands of solar farms across the US. If panel fragility, water pollution and panel toxicity were an issue, we’d have empirical evidence of it by now. But we don’t. A multitude of studies show the exact opposite.

Resources

🔵 How right-wing media used a Texas hail storm to bash solar power projects

🔵 How Can Solar Farms Defend Against Biblical-Level Hailstorms?

🔵 FEMA Risk Map Kansas (Reno County hail rated relatively low)

🔵 Navigating hailstorms -PV Magazine

🔵 Automatic hail stow solution aims to protect solar panels from the elements

🔵 Inside the Hail Stress Sequence for PVELs PV Module Qualification Program

🔵 Separating Fact From Fiction After Extreme Weather Hits Solar Farms

🔵 Hail damage and toxicity risks in solar plants

Everything we do to the earth's surface has a slight effect on how much energy is reflected or absorbed from the sun, and we've been doing it for thousands of years. The name for this absorption/reflection is Albedo, and is measured from 0 to 1, with one being the most reflective. In this chart you can see that the effective Albedo of a solar farm is about the same as for a well kept grass lawn.

Roads, roofs, grass lawns, concrete, etc. all change earths Albedo a bit. For example, new asphalt roads have the lowest Albedo. Only the heat effect isn't quite the same as with solar. Solar panels don't heat up the ground, reducing moisture loss, and at night solar panels cool off almost immediately, while the roads stay hot for many hours. And solar panels transfer away a good portion of the suns energy in the form of electricity, while roads do not. And destructive storms are built from moisture, with solar panels reducing moisture loss and thus humidity (water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas) levels.

That's the problem with trying to quantify the heat island effect. There are so many variables. On farm ground, plant one crop instead of another, and you've changed the Albedo. Interestingly, the original native Kansas prairie had a high Albedo and was fairly reflective, with few trees. We've obviously altered that one quite a bit! Just take a look at a satellite map of the state and you'll see what I mean.

In a nutshell, short of installing many thousands of square miles of solar panels in an area that was previously very reflective and dry, like the Sahara desert, solar farms have very little if any effect on our weather. The air temperature in the middle of a solar farm measured 15 feet above the ground will be warmer by 2-4 degrees during the day, and cooler at night, but will have little affect 500 feet away from the project overall.

Now, back to our social media post mentioned earlier. Fact Check: There is no George Franklin that anybody can find, or publications related to solar energy under his name. Next,  the scientific reasons he gives are partially scientific, mostly contrived to make his point, but are inaccurate. Click here if you want to read a full fact check report on this post.

If nothing else, read the Wikipedia article on Albedo to better understand this phenomena.

Resources

🔵 Albedo -Wikipedia

🔵 Albedo -Chart of Common Albedos and Solar Farm Effective Albedo

🔵 Posts mislead on solar farms climate impact

🔵 Myth Busted: No, Solar Panels Do Not Warm The Planet

🔵 Potential air-temperature impact from Solar Farms in urban areas

🔵 Solar panels reduce both global warming and urban heat island

🔵 Ground-mounted solar farms promote land surface cool islands in arid ecosystems

🔵 Solar panels forest -radiative forcing effect

🔵 Feedbacks offset up to a third of forestation’s CO2 removal benefits

Solar panels aren't new, and solar farms aren't new. Since 2005 we’ve built thousands of solar farms across the US. If water pollution, panel toxicity, panel fragility and other accusations were an issue on solar farms, we’d have empirical evidence of it by now. But we don’t. Scores of studies show the exact opposite.

If commercial solar farms are banned, does anyone reasonably expect that someone will come forth in the future and say "Oh look, things have turned out differently, maybe it's time we looked at not banning solar"?

Once solar is banned, the issue will go away, and be dead and buried. Nobody will want to open that can of worms up again.

If commercial solar is banned, our farmers and taxpayers suffer from lost revenues. Related industries that could work symbiotically with solar, won't be able to. Other industries may take a look at what happened to commercial solar farms and think "maybe Reno County isn't the best place to setup shop."

Facts matter. We need responsible, effective, and fair commercial solar farm regulations in Reno County.

Resources

🔵 Solar Farms Make Good Neighbors

🔵 How Can a Large Solar Farm Be a Good Neighbor?

Solar farms are quiet, they don't cause earthquakes, they don't use vast quantities of water, and they don't pollute the groundwater with nitrates. There is no burning of fields, no tilling, no harvest and machine dust. For previously zoned Ag land, road traffic will decrease.

When it comes to aesthetics, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many agricultural farms are picturesque, but some farms are eyesores with rotting buildings and junk all around. A grain bin may be scenic to one person, yet industrial to another.

To address visual concerns, counties can mandate berms or other landscaping be done to hide solar farms from close neighbors. Solar farms are not very tall, and visual barriers can be an effective mitigation strategy, if desired.

If you are that neighbor that thinks solar farms are ugly, make sure to get your opinion known early in the regulations, or CUP, process. Maybe your planning department will add something to address your concerns. You might even be able to get an agreement from the developer to work with you.

Resources

🔵 Solar Farms Make Good Neighbors

🔵 How Can a Large Solar Farm Be a Good Neighbor?

Solar panels are incredibly tough, with long lifespans. Most are warranted for 25 years or so, but they can still produce useful power for many years after that. Panels have to pass a battery of physical tests to be certified, and are built like the safety glass in your cars windshield to absorb impacts and still hold together.

On average, solar panels lose .5% efficiency per year. That translates to a 5% loss in 10 years. Detractors will say that if you start out at 20% efficiency and lose 5%, then you are only at 15% after 10 years. This is incorrect and a result of intentional bad math. The loss is 5% of panel production, which translates to a 20% efficient panel operating at 19% after 10 years (20 x .95).

Now, it is true that a small percentage of panels will deteriorate quicker than expected and will need to be replaced. Some lightbulbs don't last as long as they should, along with a few examples of every other manufactured item we make. That's why we have warranties. But just because a few don't work out as planned doesn't mean we shouldn't build them at all. 

Resources

🔵 How Long Do Solar Panels Last? -2024 Guide

🔵 How long do solar panels last? Solar panel lifespan 101

During construction there will be noise. That happens with any construction project. After the solar farm is complete, the only sound you hear will come from the inverters and transformers operating during the day. The panels themselves are completely silent.

How loud is this? Can you here the solar farm over the background wind noise? Watch the video and find out.

AND, it is incumbent upon solar farm developers to reduce noise as much as possible. One approach is to use higher string voltages (currently up to 1500V DC) and centralize inverters in the middle of the farm, and is an essential part of Low Impact Solar Farm Design.

Resources

🔵 Noise Measurement and Analysis Results for the Luning Solar Energy Center

🔵 Noise Impact Analysis Wistaria Ranch Solar Energy Project

🔵 An overview of sound from commercial photovoltaic facilities

When it comes to commercial solar farms, the only one of these five key contentious items that appears relevant is visual appearance, while the last one actually presents itself as an asset, moving from a cost to a benefit.

Many typical uses of farmland can be more troublesome to neighboring lands, making clean, quiet, and economically valuable solar farms appear to many as a best-case land use scenario.

For example, chicken farms, hog farms and feedlots bring measurable and concerning environmental hazards like storm water runoff issues, foul odors, noises and environmental impacts. Traditional farming may also bring tilling, burning, and the use of herbicides and fertilizers that bring their own environmental impacts and public health concerns. But in the end, the property rights of these farmers are protected and we allow them to incorporate these uses of their land, if they choose.

Right to farm laws were enacted in the early 80s to protect farmers from nuisance lawsuits by neighbors, who increasingly were new low density suburban sprawl construction, not involved in agriculture.

Kansas Right to Farm Law upholds that farmers have the right to engage in agricultural activities on their land, thereby influencing zoning policies in rural areas. Landowners may find that local zoning regulations are supportive of farming practices, even when neighboring properties transition to non-agricultural uses. With this legal backing, farmland is protected from ordinances that could otherwise restrict agricultural uses.

Solar farms don't currently fall under traditional agricultural activities protected by these laws. But that may change in the future.

As NIMBY continues to thwart renewable energy projects, and tread on property rights, changes may come in State Laws, including the ability of the State to override local decisions, and new additions to right-to-farm laws.

Resources

🔵 Freedom and Property Rights are inseparable

🔵 Renewables and Property Rights

🔵 Can Existing Right-To-Farm Laws be Applied to Renewable Energy?

🔵 How solar developers can respect property ownership rights while providing benefits to host communities

There have been many studies done on this and overwhelmingly the answer is NO, not by a long-shot. Some studies have found values can go down a few percentage points right after construction, but once everyone gets used to the solar farm and realize it actually makes a really good neighbor, values rebound to what they were before. Other studies show no decline at all.

And, for agricultural properties that host solar farms, the additional income from the solar lease may actually increase the value and marketability of those properties.

Resources

🔵 RENEWABLE ENERGY WILL HAVE FUTURE IMPACT ON LAND VALUES

🔵 Market Impact Analysis Koshkonong Solar Farm Dane County, WI

🔵 An Exploration of Property-Value Impacts Near Solar Farms -UT Austin

🔵 Property Values and Utility-Scale Solar Facilities

🔵 Property Value Impact Study -Solar Farm McLean County, IL

🔵 Solar Facilities do not Reduce Property Values -Frasier Solar

🔵 An analysis of property values and proximity to photovoltaics across six U.S. states

You may not realize it, but solar panels generate power in cloudy weather; less than on sunny days, but they still produce power. And solar panels operate more efficiently at lower temperatures in winter.

However, the key point to be understood is that solar power plants are selected as part of the mix of power plant types in an electrical grid. The grid will have nuclear, wind, gas, storage and solar power plants. Just like a good basketball team includes 5 different positions, each with different skill sets, so a well designed grid consists of different power generation technologies ranging from base load to peaking power plants, nuclear, dispatchable gas and renewable wind and solar, with zero fuel cost.

No one is proposing 100% solar for Kansas. We need all forms of power generation to meet increasing demand and enable our children to prosper in the future.

Resources

🔵 Yale -Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid -Debunked

🔵 Wind and solar are reliable in extreme weather despite what the critics say

🔵 Solar delivers for the Texas grid: Reliable output at peak demand

🔵 Combining Energy Storage And Solar Offers Unexpected Power Reliability Boost

First of all, the project being dismantled in our neighboring state concerns the ongoing dispute between the Osage Nation and Enel Green Power North America over 84 wind turbines built on private land, but caught trespassing on mineral rights owned by the Osage Nation.

The crux of the issue was that Enel mined rock for their facilities, thus infringing on the mineral rights. There are other aspects to the case, but it wasn't a fight about "green" energy, it was about not securing a mining lease and the disregard shown to the Osage Nation by the Developer.

A second case of dismantling  was found in Falmouth Maine, where 2 wind turbines the City installed at their wastewater treatment plant met with opposition from residents. Mitigation strategies failed and they were removed in 2022, following a judges decision they were a nuisance.

When it comes to solar farms, there  was one in Western Australia named the DeGrussa solar and battery project, which was being shut down early as the mine that was it's only customer for the electricity, had shut down and made the project obsolete. The panels and other components are going to be repurposed, according to developers.

Another solar farm gone defunct was in Pearl River NY. The small 1/2 MW farm was built by Monolith Solar, but never reached a functioning stage due to the bankruptcy of the company. The solar panels were removed by creditors.

And finally a Canadian firm dismantled a 10.5MW Solar Farm in Ukraine due to a dispute with a local tycoon.

As you can see, there are a variety of reasons why projects may be dismantled, just like in any other industry. There are nearly 10,000 Solar projects over 1 MW in operation or development across the U.S. alone. There are bound to be some projects terminated along the way. The real question is, will emotion and fear halt our progress as a society, or will the facts win out and solar provide us with a major source of renewable energy to power our future?

Resources

🔵 Best Bet in $300M Osage Nation Wind Farm Dispute Is Negotiation

🔵 Judge Orders Wind Turbines Removed From Osage Nation

🔵 Falmouth Wind 1 and Wind 2

🔵 Neoen shut down Australian solar farm after 7 years

🔵 Solar power initiative in Rockland County town never generated any electricity

🔵 Canadian Firm Dismantles $12 Million Solar Plant In Ukraine Amid Dispute With Tycoon

And the manufacturing of the panels and related infrastructure involves all sorts of mining, energy usage, chemicals, etc.

Your car is also manufactured. The amount of energy, chemicals, and other resources that went in to building it are staggering. Unlike a solar farm though, your car will only consume fuel, it will never capture and supply us with renewable energy.

When talking about renewable energy, when we use the term "green" we invite attack by anti-renewables activists. Discuss solar farms for what they really are. An amazing accomplishment many decades in the making that have the ability to harvest energy from a giant nuclear fusion reactor in the sky and provide numerous benefits to energy consumers, farmers and taxpayers!

Bifacial panels also melt snow quicker on the top side as all that reflected sunlight is absorbed by the panel, causing it to heat up faster.

Also, single axis solar trackers can be positioned at a steep angle to help unload the snow.

Now, if there is a lot of accumulating snow falling rapidly, then it may have to be manually removed. But intense snow seems to be getting fairly rare in Kansas these days.

The fact is that snow is an easily predicted weather event, and grid operators know the history of the solar farm, and the forecast, and will adjust to compensate. Also, solar panels produce more power the colder they get, which is helpful as the sun is less intense in winter.

Those photos you see on anti-renewable Facebook groups of snow covered solar farms were taken at just the right moment and place in the farm to fool you into thinking that panels are easily rendered useless by snow. They may have been producing power from their back side. Several hours later and the panels may have been snow free.

Resources

🔵 Yale -Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid -Debunked

🔵 Wind and solar are reliable in extreme weather despite what the critics say

🔵 Combining Energy Storage And Solar Offers Unexpected Power Reliability Boost

🔵 Let it Snow: How Solar Panels Can Thrive in Winter Weather

As a County we have already said no to renewable wind energy. Now we are ready to indiscriminately ban solar farms as well.

This has a big economic impact on our County, and also sends a message to companies in general that we are not "Open for Business".

If we want more economic growth, and to increase our County income and reduce taxes for residents, then we need responsible, effective, and fair commercial solar farm regulations.

51.5 million acres of land were devoted to crops for making biofuels, mostly ethanol, in 2023. For 2023 the current total of acres involved in CRP enrollments amounts to 24.8 million acres.

If we made 100% of our electricity from solar energy (which would never happen, but for comparison's sake) it would require 13.6 million acres. That is close to the amount (12 million acres) of federal land offered for lease to the oil and gas industry in 2017 alone. In fact fossil fuels use far more land currently than solar farms ever would.

Transitioning to renewable energy doesn’t have to use more land than our current fossil fuel-based energy system. Replacing corn ethanol could free up millions of acres.

Our food supply will not be in danger if commercial solar farms were to supply a large percentage of our energy needs. Not by a long shot. We have more than enough land for agriculture and energy.

To finalize, you cannot force a farmer to farm food. It is their land and their property rights. They farm to earn a living. Whether it's food or energy, our Kansas farmers are proud producers. 

Resources

🔵 How much solar would it take to power the U.S.?

🔵 Are solar farms really a threat to food farms?

🔵 How much land will a renewable energy system use?

🔵 Ethanol’s outsized place in the U.S. energy system

🔵 U.S. Farmland under Threat of Urbanization -Future Development Scenarios to 2040

🔵 Farms Under Threat -The State of the States

🔵 The True Land Footprint of Solar Energy

🔵 Solar & Agricultural Land Use SEIA

🔵 More Energy on Less Land: The Drive to Shrink Solar’s Footprint

It is true that modern silicon solar panels, used in around 97% of solar farms being built today, have on average around 14 grams of lead in each one of them, in the solder connecting the cells together.

It is also true that thin-film panels, which make up about 3% of the solar farm market, have cadmium-telluride in them. Not cadmium, but cadmium-telluride. There is a huge difference.

These metals, which are not water soluble, are locked in. Solar panels are put together kind of like the safety glass in your car’s windshield, with layers of tempered glass and flexible plastic laminated together under heat and pressure. In the event of large hail, the laminated glass absorbs the impact and the plastic holds the panel together. 

For further information, this video goes into more detail about panel toxicity and groundwater contamination accusations, as it relates to our Cheney Lake watershed.

As a comparison, inorganic fertilizers commonly used in agriculture can sometimes contain elevated levels of arsenic, cadmium, and lead. These fertilizers are spread directly on the land.

NOTE: There is ongoing debate about whether damaged solar panels in long term landfill situations pose a risk to the environment. Some studies show metals can leach out over long periods of time in acidic conditions, while others show they don't. Thin film panels will almost all be recycled, as the Tellurium is so rare it is required to make new ones. That leaves silicon panels and lead. The answer there is to insist that industry  phases lead solder out completely in these panels. Also, now that more panels are reaching end of life stage, there are more recyclers coming online as well, which should help with the landfill situation.

Resources

🔵 Toxic Solar Panels in Cheney Lake Watershed

🔵 A Reality Check About Solar Panel Waste and the Effects on Human Health

🔵 Health and safety impacts of solar photovoltaics may 2017

🔵 Douglas County KS Study

🔵 Unfounded concerns about solar panel toxicity are slowing decarbonization

🔵 Heavy Metals in Fertilizers

First we have to look at why the panel was discarded. Sometimes they work perfectly fine, but newer more efficient panels make more economical sense. Sometimes a hail storm destroys them, and sometimes an individual panel can simply go bad on its own. At solar farm decommissioning time, panels that may still have 85% of their capacity left will be un-racked and trucked away.

In the past many of these panels have been landfilled, but recycling is starting to become more common. More and more recyclers are scheduled to come on line as more panels become available. Basically it's a chicken and the egg type of relationship. AND nearly all of the thin film panels, which make up 3% of the market, are already being recycled as the Tellurium in the Cadmium Telluride in these panels is incredibly rare, and if we don't recycle them we won't be able to make new ones.

Half of the panels that reach a recycling center are actually put back into use in the used solar panel market. Yes, there is a used solar panel market and you can get some incredible deals on panels; as low as $.20 per watt in 2024!

Now, let's look at the fossil fuels these panels replace.

New estimates show the best-case and worst-case scenarios for cumulative PV module waste are between 54 million and 160 million metric tons cumulatively by 2050.

Although this seems like a large amount of waste, 35 years of cumulative PV module waste (2016-2050) is dwarfed by the waste generated by fossil fuel energy and other common waste streams (if we assume constant annual waste at present rates). For example, if we do not decarbonize and transition to renewable energy sources, coal ash and oily sludge waste generated from fossil fuel energy would be 300-800 times and 2-5 times larger, respectively, than solar panel waste. Also, both coal ash and oily sludge are known to be readily toxic. In fact, we globally produce and manage approximately the same mass of coal ash per month as the amount of solar panel waste we expect to produce over the next 35 years.

In conclusion, solar panel waste is starting to be addressed by recyclers and the used market, but even if it wasn't, and solar farms became a dominate source of energy, overall waste would go down drastically by the reduction of fossil fuel waste.

Resources

🔵 A solar recycler I visited in Yuma Arizona January of 2024

🔵 Unfounded concerns about solar panel toxicity & waste are slowing decarbonization

🔵 These Two Myths About Solar Power Are Slowing The Energy Transition

There is a war raging against renewable energy. This war is about market share. The tactics being used are the same ones the tobacco companies used for decades to fend off legislation: Fear, uncertainty, and above all, doubt. The level of hate and disinformation directed at solar farms is amazing and relentless.

As in any war, the first casualty is truth. Fossil fuels interests, and mega-donors, fund disinformation campaigns and good well-meaning people unknowingly repeat these falsehoods, doing their best to short circuit solar energy projects, based on a foundation of untruths, such as fragile, short-lived and toxic solar panels.

At the local level, Facebook anti-renewable hate groups have had the most influence. Most of them are private, and the members are indoctrinated by an endless stream of hate. Anyone who tries to challenge their disinformation gets banned. They are a perfect incubator for anti-renewables activists, and are gaining ground.

The fact you're here shows you want to get beyond the rhetoric and fear, and find out the facts on commercial solar farms.

Start here to strengthen your fact checking skills.

Resources

🔵 Fighting Renewable Energy Disinformation

🔵 The War on Renewables heats up across America  (also covers a Kansas connection)

🔵 Inside the conspiracy to take down wind and solar power

🔵 Oil industry has sought to block state backing for green tech since 1960s

🔵 The right-wing groups behind renewable energy misinformation

🔵 Climate Disinformation Database

The short answer: NO.

The long answer is a bit more complicated as zinc is a natural substance found throughout our water and soil. Zinc is an essential trace element for humans.

Zinc will leach very slowly (many decades) from hot-dip galvanizing. This temporary addition of zinc minimally alters the naturally occurring background zinc level, keeping it far below the criterion level established by the USEPA in the 1972 Water Quality Act and all its revisions. Hot-dip galvanized steel is ideally suited for use over even the most sensitive waterways and habitats.

Resources

🔵 Zinc in Soil and Water -Hot-Dip Galvanized Supports Used in Solar Farms

🔵 AGA Hot Dip Galvanized Solar Projects

🔵 AGA White Paper Zinc in the Water-2023