Tag Archive for: solarfarms

The climate and the adjacent land covered by solar panels help insulate the track from typical problems faced by other tracks.

How solar panel farms can help protect racetracks

The story is as old as racing circuits are. Land uses change around a popular circuit, neighbors complain, land values go up, and the circuit disappears. The litany of circuits that have been devoured by encroaching development in Southern California alone is disturbing to those who have followed motorsport for decades.

But there is a ray of hope in some areas.

Generating solar power requires lots of land. And solar farms are good neighbors to racetracks. They provide a solid buffer zone, sometimes acres, between the circuit and any other land use. They are not disturbed by noise or traffic. They don’t require a lot of people on site. And once they are established, they are not the sort of uses that are easily displaced by residential, commercial, or other industrial uses.

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Source: Roadracing World

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ISES explains how much solar PV energy could be harvested from freed-up agricultural land in densely-populated countries with declining populations.

Declining populations free up agricultural land for large amounts of solar in densely populated countries

The global population is expected to increase from 8 billion people today to 9.7 billion by mid-century. Strong growth is particularly evident in Africa, which will add a billion people.

However, in many countries, population is stable or even falling. There are nine countries with populations larger than 20 million people that are expected to have lower populations in 2050 than today: China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Ukraine and Poland. The combined population of these countries is expected to fall by 10%, from 2 billion people today to 1.8 billion people in 2050.

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Source: PV Magazine

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According to US EIA, there are more than 5,000 solar farms across the US. In 2022, they produced 3.4% of the nation's electricity.

Amid record heat, solar farms help ease the strain on US power grids

Next to the rows of alfalfa, another type of farm is taking root in Southern California’s Kern County, one that’s harvesting clean, renewable energy.

Solar Star, one of the largest solar farms in the U.S., has a peak output of 586 megawatts.

“These panels track the sun all day,” said Alicia Knapp, president and CEO of BHE Renewables, which owns Solar Star. (I’ll double-check all quotes)

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Source: CBS News

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Research suggests that suspending solar arrays over canals can not only generate electricity but may also reduce water evaporation in drought-prone regions.

Can America’s canals double as solar farms?

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Some 8,000 miles of federally owned canals snake across the United States, channeling water to replenish crops, fuel hydropower plants and supply drinking water to rural communities. In the future, these narrow waterways could serve an additional role: as hubs of solar energy generation.

A coalition of environmental groups is urging the federal government to consider carpeting its canals with solar panels. The concept was pioneered in India a decade ago and will soon be tested in California for the first time. Early research suggests that suspending solar arrays over canals can not only generate electricity in land-constrained areas but may also reduce water evaporation in drought-prone regions.

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Source: Canary Media

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‘Solar grazing’ around panels is providing a lifeline to the US shepherding sector as clean energy expands.

How sheep keep solar farms out of the shade

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Stung by high fuel costs and a labor squeeze, some clean energy companies are turning to an unlikely ally — flocks of sheep — to keep their solar panels out of the shade.

The nascent practice, known as solar grazing, is so far used on only a tiny sliver of the expansive arrays of panels that are increasingly dotting rural America. But with significant financial benefits to both the renewable energy industry and the struggling mutton sector, more solar sites in the US are expected to start swapping lawnmowers for lambs.

The US solar industry has been growing rapidly: The country is expected to break solar-construction records this year by adding more than 32 gigawatts of capacity, according to a BloombergNEF outlook. That’s enough to power more than 25 million homes. At the same time, there are concerns there won’t be enough cropland to feed a growing world population, especially if acreage is covered by buildings, roads or photovoltaic installations instead.

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Source: Bloomberg

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The US DOE announced the availability of $450M through the 2021 BIL for clean energy projects — like solar farms — on mining sites.

DOE offers $450 Million for green energy projects at coal mining sites

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the availability of $450 million through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for clean energy projects — like solar farms — on current and former mining sites, a White House press release said.

There are about 17,750 mine land sites in the U.S. covering 1.5 million acres. These sites contaminate land, water and air quality, as well as expose local communities to toxic pollutants.

The repurposing of the sites for renewable energy projects would generate up to an estimated 90 gigawatts of green energy — enough power for almost 30 million homes.

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Source: Eco Watch

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New study finds that an optimal arrangement of solar panels on farms can cool the panels down by 10 degrees—crucial for their efficiency.

Solar panels handle heat better when they’re combined with crops

It’s an ironic fact that sun-harvesting solar panels function better when they’re not too hot. But luckily researchers have now discovered precisely how to cool them down. Building solar panels at a specific height above crops can reduce surface temperatures by up to 10 °C, compared to traditional panels constructed over bare ground, they’ve found.

The results, published in the journal Applied Energy, are the latest contribution to a growing body of research on agrivoltaics: a farming method that aims to maximize land use by pairing solar panels with cropland, thus minimizing competition between energy production and food. We already know that agrivoltaics can increase land-use efficiency, produce plenty of electricity on minimal land, and may also improve crop yields by shielding plants from heat and wind.

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Source: Anthropocene

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Lightsource bp has built a pair of solar farms in CO that double as carbon sinks and help to preserve 3,000 acres of shortgrass prairie, too.

New solar farm is a carbon sink & prairie preserver, too

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A movement is afoot to quash utility-scale solar development on farmland in the US, but the case for rural solar keeps expanding in new and different directions. In the latest example, Lightsource bp has built a pair of solar farms in Colorado that double as carbon sinks and help to preserve 3,000 acres of shortgrass prairie, too.

Solar developers like farmland because it is relatively flat, treeless, and exposed to sun. Roads and transmission infrastructure are pluses, too.

As for local opposition, that is a matter of local concern. However, if the objections come down to aesthetics and appropriate use of land, that is a matter of historical perspective. Farms look bucolic enough on the outside, but beneath those amber waves of grain is formerly virgin land that has been stripped of its natural state, robbed of its biodiversity, commercialized, and industrialized for generations with machines, herbicides and pesticides.

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Source: Clean Technica

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Amazon, the US e-commerce group will also install 23 rooftop systems totaling 4.09 MW across 14 cities in India.

Amazon announces 420 MW of utility-scale solar projects in India

U.S. e-commerce group Amazon has announced its first utility-scale renewable energy projects in India – three solar farms located in Rajasthan. These include a 210 MW project to be developed by Indian developer ReNew Power, a 100 MW project to be built by Amp Energy India, and a 110 MW project to be developed by Brookfield Renewable. 

“Combined, these solar farms can generate 1,076,000 MWh of renewable energy per year, enough to power over 360,000 average-sized households in New Delhi annually,” stated the company.

Amazon will also deploy 23 rooftop solar arrays totaling 4.09 MW across 14 cities in India. This brings the total number of its solar rooftop projects in India to 41, with a combined capacity of 19.7 MW.

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Source: PV Magazine

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