Solar Farm #2, dangers involved.

[RSKY]

If it's all prime farmland why are there trees and scrub growing on it?

There are creeks and streams running thru the area. As per good farming practice the land is not cultivated for about a hundred feet from a stream. Also fence rows between properties are wooded. There are areas in the 1200 acres consisting of 10-20 acres that have never been cleared and are wooded. But most of the area is currently in corn or soybeans or wheat that is being harvested with no-till beans being planted (sometimes the same day as wheat harvested) and a few acres in tobacco. This is not Kansas type flat land. It is gently rolling. And it is some of the best farm land in the area.

 

[RSKY]

I have a problem with people objecting to things for various reasons. Made in China? Some people go out of their way to buy American made but most don’t. Clear cutting land? That’s been going on for a while in the US.

Most of the time the solar farm puts up a bond so the removal of the panels would be paid for if the company defaults.

I wish people would just come out and say “we don’t want to look at them”. At least they’d be honest. Would it be better if it were a coal plant, a factory, a 500 unit condo?

Im sure I’d hate it too if one of these things was going up near me. It would be 100% because they’d be an eyesore and nothing else.

My daughter had a real estate appraiser look at their property. Once they had the appraisal in hand they had her do another showing where the panels would be. According to this one agent it would mean a minimum 40% reduction in the value of the property. BUT that is only one agent. According to research some of the neighbors have done there would be a reduction in property value of 20% to 60% with a solar farm next door. The problem isn't just looking at them. At a distance of 1000' there is a 7 degree increase in temperature on a sunny day. The dangers of fire, chemical contamination and toxic fumes must also be considered.

 

[fishheadbob]

We keep using more and more electricity and do need a way to manufacture it in the best way. It's 110 in Texas right now; electricity usage will strain a lot of grids. It's unlikely anyone wants a new coal burning plant on this acreage, and people seem more opposed to wind farms than even solar panels. There a lot of headaches and environmental mess with ANY energy production, I used to work for a fracker (ugh). What to do; what to do.
Around here we have a lot of big solar installations going in, and for some fortunate reason they are being sited on crappy land that hasn't produced anything except brush for the last 60 years. The companies siting them have the sense to screen them pretty well; or maybe there is some sort of regulation that makes them do responsible siting. They're using the bad land because big agriculture around here pays a lot to lease or buy the good soils, and stays away from the junk land. A win for the landowner who gets rent for the junk land, and we get to burn up more electricity without overloading.

 

[RSKY]

At the end of the day, if it is your land and you own it, it's yours do as you wish IMO. If you can make money with solar panels and you want to lease your land out, no one should be able to tell you that you can't IMO.

Don't get me wrong, a new pig farm next door could be an issue with the smell, but if it was already there when you bought the land, that's on you and not the pig farmer.

Some of the families involved have had their property and homes for generations. My grandchildren are living in a house on property bought by their great grandparents in the 1950's. My daughter and her husband have just dropped over $100,000 on the house complete redoing it inside and out. Why would they do this to a 100+ year old house? Because it is built like a fortress. Rough cut true 2x4 oak studs with tongue and groove exterior and interior walls. Twenty plus acres of land with about twelve rented to a local farmer. From what we have found out they will not be able to let the kids play in the creek running thru the property due to heavy metal and herbicide contamination.

 

[Hay Dude]

We all know Nuclear power and natural gas is the answer.
This country is run by people too stupid to utilize it.

 

[RSKY]

We all know Nuclear power and natural gas is the answer.
This country is run by people too stupid to utilize it.

With modern design a nuclear plant is the best way.

 

[Hay Dude]

The problem is, our teenagers & college aged kids are being taught that solar & wind is the only way by environmentalist professors & teachers.

 

[RSKY]

Once again, the neighbors to this 'solar farm' would not like it, but would not fight it IF they went by the 1000' Kentucky statute. That is the solar panels would have to be a minimum 1000' from the property lines. The company is wanting this changed to 300' from dwellings. So in my daughter's case the panels would be right against the southern and eastern boundaries and about 100'-150' across the road.

And the battery storage units would have to be 2000' from property lines. This would give enough distance for it to not be instantly deadly during a fire. And with the number and size of the batteries involved there will be fires.

 

[turbo36]

You seem to be unable to distinguish "environmental damage" from harvesting a crop that has a 30 year cycle. Planting thousands of cement support bases and amending the soil with Portland cement for structural support alone is permanently killing the soil. That land will never grow any food again, ever!

How is that different from building a sports stadium or NASCAR Race track? If we use your logic, then we ought to be tearing down a bunch of stuff down in this country. Have you ever looked into the environmental impact of asphalt paved roads? I guess we should just go back to dirt roads again except that the dust control methods aren’t that friendly either.

 

[Hay Dude]

How is that different from building a sports stadium or NASCAR Race track? If we use your logic, then we ought to be tearing down a bunch of stuff down in this country. Have you ever looked into the environmental impact of asphalt paved roads? I guess we should just go back to dirt roads again except that the dust control methods aren’t that friendly either.

OK how many of them do we have in our country? Should we tear down schools and hospitals, too?
Theres much better substitutes for solar. There are no substitues for race tracks

 

[RSKY]

There is a reason the companies installing these farms are leasing the land and not buying and owning. There have been several lawsuits by people who have property downstream from a solar farm and had their properties contaminated or otherwise ruined by the farms. In every case the landowner is ultimately responsible. So the companies get the Federal money, form a LLC to do the construction/management of the facility, take the money and leave the LLC in charge. The LLC will then do a sloppy cheap job of construction and get the project up and running. In the cases we have read about the outside engineering firms are not held liable because their plans were not following due to cost cutting by the LLC. Once a lawsuit is filed the parent company can point their finger at the LLC and say it is at fault and the company blameless. The LLC goes bankrupt and the land owner is left holding the bag.

 

[ddbackhoe]

How is that different from building a sports stadium or NASCAR Race track? If we use your logic, then we ought to be tearing down a bunch of stuff down in this country. Have you ever looked into the environmental impact of asphalt paved roads? I guess we should just go back to dirt roads again except that the dust control methods aren’t that friendly either.

OR, we could demolish unused buildings/facilities and repurpose them. The coal plants that have recently been shuttered come to mind. BUT, wait, most of those places have development value so we can’t use those.

 

[MossRoad]

There are creeks and streams running thru the area. As per good farming practice the land is not cultivated for about a hundred feet from a stream. Also fence rows between properties are wooded. There are areas in the 1200 acres consisting of 10-20 acres that have never been cleared and are wooded. But most of the area is currently in corn or soybeans or wheat that is being harvested with no-till beans being planted (sometimes the same day as wheat harvested) and a few acres in tobacco. This is not Kansas type flat land. It is gently rolling. And it is some of the best farm land in the area.

Thanks for clearing that up. All that was mentioned was clear cutting and made it sound like total area was woods.

 

[B7510HSD]

With modern design a nuclear plant is the best way.

Problem solved have them put in a nuclear plant instead of a solar farm I'm sure the neighbors would prefer this!

 

[turbo36]

There is a reason the companies installing these farms are leasing the land and not buying and owning. There have been several lawsuits by people who have property downstream from a solar farm and had their properties contaminated or otherwise ruined by the farms. In every case the landowner is ultimately responsible. So the companies get the Federal money, form a LLC to do the construction/management of the facility, take the money and leave the LLC in charge. The LLC will then do a sloppy cheap job of construction and get the project up and running. In the cases we have read about the outside engineering firms are not held liable because their plans were not following due to cost cutting by the LLC. Once a lawsuit is filed the parent company can point their finger at the LLC and say it is at fault and the company blameless. The LLC goes bankrupt and the land owner is left holding the bag.

Please provide a link supporting this argument.

Many firms prefer to lease land so that it doesn’t show up as an asset on their balance sheet, most public companies are judged by the return on their assets. A leased asset is considered a short term liability, whereas a purchased asset that is financed is shown as a long-term liability.

Another reason for leasing the land instead of selling it is that the current owners usually get a better yearly return then if they had sold the land out right, and had to pay the tax on the sale upfront. Unless you have first-hand knowledge of why it was leased as opposed to purchased, then your argument is simply conjecture.

 

[5030]

Yeah get ready my a$$….I’m not too worried about that.
99.9% of the food we grow is still grown on US soil outdoors.

...and over 75% of the urea based fertilizer for that food comes from Ukraine

 

[5030]

One thing that people loose sight of (but here in our Township we didn't) is..

They are not solar or wind farms at all.

They are industrial installations.

 

[ruffdog]

Oh no...it is for profit? Like the shipping, rail, mining, auto, tourism, utilities, paper, food, entertainment, lumber, music, food, equipment industries have always been? Why do we need more electricity? One growing industry uses a HUGE amount of power and that is for data crunching computers. They are laughing all the way to the bank too.

 

[5030]

Why do we need more electricity?

To power all the toaster cars the gummit is shoving up your arse of course.

 

[ruffdog]

WECA Urges Support for Large-Scale Data Centers

WECA has joined a coalition of organizations representing Wisconsin businesses, workers, and energy providers in urging lawmakers to sign on to support a bill aimed at attracting large-scale data
centers to Wisconsin.

Representative Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls) and Senator Romaine Quinn (R-Rice Lake) have authored a bill that would align Wisconsin with the more than 30 other states that offer a tax exemption on data center equipment to attract the development of data centers, which are major power users.

According to a 2022 Mangum Economics Report, since the state of Illinois enacted its data center program in 2019, it has brought in more than $4.2 billion in new data center investment, plus thousands of construction jobs.