Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[vicsrc]

I live in Arizona and I don't know why the whole state has not gone solar.
It is the way of the future and is not harming the earth in any way.
I live on 10 acres in the desert and I have my own 6k watt solar system.
My neighbors don't complain about my system and when its 100 plus degrees and the average monthly electric bill is $400 to $600 dollars a month my bill comes to $17.00
I think I would be looking into how I can get them to cover my electric bill in exchange for any complaints I my have.
People should look into how they can get it installed on their property so they can benefit from almost free energy.

 

[vicsrc]

By the way my property was worth about $500k before solar, now its been guesstimate to be around 1.3 million with solar and a well in the middle of the desert.
I dont pay anything to the government except taxes. And blood!

 

[vicsrc]

Has anyone looked into installing their own system?
You can buy your own panels and converters and put a system together yourself.
You don't have to buy all the panels at once just get a few at a time and add to the size of your system.
Search on you tube to see how its done

 

[kenmbz]

Here you need permits, inspections, Electric company involvement etc.
Grid Tie isolation etc.
Not awful, but some hoops.

 

[SW OR John W]

If you can't beat em, join em'. See is she can get her property in on the deal and make a decent cut. Maybe enough to afford to buy another property to live on.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

Wow, this is the topic it seems. I also have an opinion that many may disagree with. To start, wind power causes a ton of wildlife death where it is at. They don't work in low/high wing conditions and when they fail.... hopefully you are not near them. As with solar, most of this comes from China. Now wind can be useful especially on a small scale using turbines vs propellers. There is even a micro system put out 20 years ago designed to look like a tree in fall that works starting at 2 mph. Came out to about 5k per kilowatt though. Wind out at sea has also shown to be problematic to wildlife.
Solar... Sounds great doesn't it? The cost now vs the return doesn't not work out. Especially when you actually read the specs and the rate of expected degradation. Granted, with just a little knowledge you can repair them really cheap when they fail unless your's are micro inverter based. I looked into the cost, size of a system install to fit MY needs and having it done as I want it done. North of a 100k installed, doing it myself 45-50k BUT the local power company will not allow me to connect to the grid if I do it. This is not including batteries for storage. Figure add 10k for every 5KWH to be safe in what you need. I live in a very sunny area, closest neighbor 1/2 mile away installed a system and was reporting back weekly how it was doing, not great on clear days in the winter due to the install being fixed and not adjustable. We will see this summer. A solar farm I'd fight in my area, this is rural with good farm land. We fight developers also. Logically, instead of a solar farm it would work best directly onto houses, these farms can heat the air above them killing more animals and then the glare off of them is horrible. These hill based systems are the worse. One in Oregon off of 84 on a hill, come around the corner in the evening and it blinds you. Who ever thought that was a great idea is a moron. Now they put up signs warning of a "possible glare issue". I'd like to have cheap clean energy, again, but it seems hydro isn't considered green these days. It's not ok to harm a fish but any earth or sea based mammal is OK. My solution? I ordered 35k KWH generator to hook up to my tractor. When I need it, it's there and it serve a dual purpose since I also needed a counter balance for the thing. Either way, this is being forced upon us and if it was driven by responses to the market I'd not have a issue. Anything that needs to be subsidized by the government is not worthy by that shear fact.
By the way, I DID NOT READ ALL 93 pages, now back out to the fields to be productive, without government subsidies.

 

[DavisHollow]

If you can tell your neighbors what they can and can’t do with their property, as you are wishing, does it also work in reverse? Be careful what you are asking for, especially when you’re in the minority.

 

[charlessenf]

Some people have got together in one of our communities and are planning on installing a huge multi-acre solar farm on property adjacent to my daughter's and sister-in-law's property. They will be surrounded to the north and south of their properties and across the road. Their property value will go to nearly nothing.

Has anybody fought the installation of one of these?

Any ideas?

RSKY

Well, RSKY, when you don't want 'government controls' in the form of Zoning ordinances and Planning Boards and the like, you get the proverbial Pig Farms next door.

"Their property value will go to nearly nothing." Wow, are you a prognosticator? I've been in real estate for quite some time and it seems nothing's gone down at all (over the long term, of course.)

". . . surrounded to the north and south of their properties and across the road" At worst, that's three sides, so not surrounded.

You said PLANNING which implies a process, which in turn suggests reviews and permissions from an authority.

"a huge multi-acre" suggests this project and your relatives' properties are outside the City Limits, so a County or Parrish governing board shall examine the proposal in a public forum - or has that already happened?

Now, a solar energy plant is fueled by old Sol so operating costs are considerably less and this usually means a reduction in household electricity bills. Good for relatives, good for property values.

It also would seem to indicate some solar corporation's coming to town to build this thing and that may bring opportunities to get Homeowner solar installed at a real discount.

It would be an opportunity to pressure your respective council to require reciprocity so that homes would be able to 'sell' excess power to the utility as a condition of Permit Approval.

Another thing to think of is the infrastructure needed to carry that solar electric energy to a central hub or electrical utility facility - with the idea of Piggybacking to run cable or fiber 'out their way' in the process.

If you can't fight 'em, Join 'em position would be to look for opportunities to invest in the project. Maybe cut a deal for some direct solar connections for the 'surrounded' homes? In short, make some lemonade.

Familiarize yourselves with the applicable rules, schedules and significant parties - remember, your relatives' neighbor's hoping to sell his "multiple acres" at a pretty profit and he and his prospective (likely a contingency contract based upon approvals) buyer believe it is a 'fit' based upon the (lax?) existing zoning regulations. He(she) has her(his) rights, too.

Do they get their county commission agendas? Go to the website and sign up to get them in the email. Or, call teh clerk and ask to be put on the email distribution list.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

If you can tell your neighbors what they can and can’t do with their property, as you are wishing, does it also work in reverse? Be careful what you are asking for, especially when you’re in the minority.

All we are doing is making sure the zoning is enforced and not changed after someone buys a farm with the idea.... I'm going to put in 1k houses or other BS like that. IT'S ZONED AG. Not for that crap. And, it keeps our "elected leaders" in line when they think they can arbitrarily change the zoning for campaign donations. Don't buy something zoned for a use other than what you want. A neighborhood was put up against a ranch land about 8 niles away, after the folks in the new development started shooting his cows and he had no recourse..... yah, keep that city **** away from the farms.

 

[turbo36]

So here's a hypothetical question.
Let's say that you are a farmer that is growing enough hay for "X" amount of animals, say sheep for instance. On that same amount of land that you used to produce the hay for these sheep you install solar panels that will still allow the sheep to graze on the grass. Are you technically taking the land out of production? Now, I realize that perhaps the yield would be less because the sun would be partially blocked by the solar panels but factoring in the reduction of fuel cost and labor to cut and bail and distribute the hay, don't you think this would be a net gain? Also, what about the income that you would earn for the rent of the property? Seems to me to be a pretty simple thing, other than the view what damage are you doing?