THE NEW ENERGY BOOM: The sun is shining on Alberta’s solar industry

[shtferbrains]

[QUOTE=ALBERTAFARMER4;518947]LOL, you think that working solar modules are going to the dump?

Where do you think they will go?

[Hamloc]

Travers Solar project. Here we have a solar project with financing from Denmark through Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, solar panels from China through Jinko Solar, covering 3300 acres of land creating electrical generating infrastructure that is basically useless for 3 months of the year, December through February, that will create 10 long term jobs at a cost of $700 million. Need I say more.

[shtferbrains]

Actualy I would have said the same about perfectly workable gas fired power plants in California but they are now scraping them routinely even if they can't supply power at peak demand time of day.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Sheep…. Very, very, very common partner of solar fields.

Also various places have had good luck having market gardens under the panels. More so hot areas as the shade helps the plants, but it’s possible here as well.

Dumb to say agriculture can’t utilize the land at the same time. There’s more to ag than cows and arable.

I drove by the blight on the landscape at Innisfail one very overcast wet day this fall, and was surprised to see that they were releasing stored solar energy, even though according to the website, the panels weren't producing anything.

That is right, the holy grail, efficient, affordable solar energy storage was happening right here in Central Alberta.

There was a herd of sheep under the panels harvesting the weeds that had grown under and between the panels. Those plants had stored solar energy from sunny days, and were releasing it to the sheep on a cloudy day, and at night. I just knew technology would find a solution.

[Blaithin]

Blight is in the eye of the beholder.

I’m personally not a big fan of solid fields of wheat/barley/peas/canola. Bit of a blight themselves. But they pay the bills for many on here so their blight status is opaque in the face of livelihood.

[Blaithin]

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/14/1054942590/solar-energy-colorado-garden-farm-land?fbclid=IwAR0yg3-scnTppdDt1xufDRCq7zddVA0RW2I0CDGO1q5szUxv_f22YwKkA Bg

This conveniently popped up tonight. I’m not sure if it’s the one I previously read about, thought that one was more of a desert region, but same idea.

Multiple possibilities for those willing to try.

[helmsdale]

You certainly aren't wrong on the idea that there are multiple ways to "do ag" Blaithin, but it would seem that in the particular instance that chief was referencing, there is no intention of grazing the real estate underneath the panels.

Those panels were thumped into regrassed land, and subsequently sprayed out wholesale. Unless they intend to reseed new grass into that dirt, I'd hazard to guess that they'll be getting the local oilpatch custom spray applicator to make a couple passes up and down the rows each year to keep everything dead and free of combustibles.

If they do as it appears they are doing, I'd feel reasonably safe arguing that's a blight upon the landscape.

[Blaithin]

You certainly aren't wrong on the idea that there are multiple ways to "do ag" Blaithin, but it would seem that in the particular instance that chief was referencing, there is no intention of grazing the real estate underneath the panels.

Those panels were thumped into regrassed land, and subsequently sprayed out wholesale. Unless they intend to reseed new grass into that dirt, I'd hazard to guess that they'll be getting the local oilpatch custom spray applicator to make a couple passes up and down the rows each year to keep everything dead and free of combustibles.

If they do as it appears they are doing, I'd feel reasonably safe arguing that's a blight upon the landscape.

Who knows. The article I posted was a private fellow. Companies doing it probably don’t want the “hassle” of finding someone to use the underside.

As with any piece of ag, when someone is saying they don’t like it so therefore all ag is horrid, I like to counter with not all, just that part. Don’t focus on getting rid of ag, instead promote the methods you support.

I doubt solar farms are going away any time soon. Be better to push the companies to allow something else to work along with them than to just say they’re crap and shouldn’t be around at all.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I am almost sure that the solar farm at innisfail was sterilized. It took a couple of years for anything to grow back, and even if that it is sparse and mostly just weeds. Much some of the most productive land anywhere. A dozen sheep on a quarter section in this part of the world is not exactly the most efficient use of the land. But certainly better than no sheep.

[Blaithin]

I think of them kind of like a forest. The panels are the canopy and there’s the potential to have many other layers on the go at the same time.

A small flock rotating through a quarter isn’t productive on their own, but if it’s added in to what else the quarter is producing, in this case energy, then getting multiple layers going in the forest can make it very productive. If it was completely sprayed out then it’ll take a few years to get to supporting more sheep numbers.

There’s a proposal for a large solar farm just outside of Stettler. Apparently on one of the best quarters in the country but it’s right at the sub station so it’s handy. Be interesting to see how it develops over the years.

[Blaithin]

I wonder what the profit per acre is on one of these anyway. As farmers we’d rather see good soil raise good crops and there’s the skepticism over the effectiveness of a solar farm. But if you take away those two preconceptions then you’re down to the fact that one is producing a product year round while the other only 5-6 months on average.

Given the apparent lifespan of a field of panels, eventually the field will either go back into farming or be upgraded to newer technology (and assumed efficiency) panels.

Companies aren’t in the habit of investing in projects that don’t make them money so obviously these sites offer the ability to pay themselves off at some point and make a profit. Something farming is struggling to do with land and input prices right now.

Biggest downfall I’ve heard of them, and turbines, is nothing in the contract about cleaning up after the site is done. Which is a rather large downfall in my mind.

[shtferbrains]

California has 50000 acres of new projects this year.

They don't have to make money. The money is in selling the shares. It's the same old game when governmnt money flows freely.

[chuckChuck]

So the fossil fuel industry doesn't use lots of land to build roads, leases, pipelines, refineries, bitumen and coal mines? LOL

Lots of farmers, municipalities in Saskatchewan and Alberta complaining about all the unpaid leases and taxes from the fly by night oil and gas companies. Take the money and run type companies.

Not to mention the thousands of abandoned, orphaned, and suspended wells that taxpayers will help to clean up?

Farmers have an opportunity to generate a significant amount of their own electricity and lower their electricity costs.

But on Agrisilly often all we get is the complainers and naysayers who don't believe solar works even in the face of more and more of it being built especially in Alberta.

[TASFarms]

So the fossil fuel industry doesn't use lots of land to build roads, leases, pipelines, refineries, bitumen and coal mines? LOL

Lots of farmers, municipalities in Saskatchewan and Alberta complaining about all the unpaid leases and taxes from the fly by night oil and gas companies. Take the money and run type companies.

Not to mention the thousands of abandoned, orphaned, and suspended wells that taxpayers will help to clean up?

Farmers have an opportunity to generate a significant amount of their own electricity and lower their electricity costs.

But on Agrisilly often all we get is the complainers and naysayers who don't believe solar works even in the face of more and more of it being built especially in Alberta.

Tax payers,and all levels of govt Benefit from the oil industry. Rm of Kindersley has $42 million in the bank. Even if the fly by nite oil companies left oil leases abandoned, Society as whole still net benefited from it. The green wave crippled Ontario. Why make everyone else play for it

[shtferbrains]

So the fossil fuel industry doesn't use lots of land to build roads, leases, pipelines, refineries, bitumen and coal mines? LOL

Lots of farmers, municipalities in Saskatchewan and Alberta complaining about all the unpaid leases and taxes from the fly by night oil and gas companies. Take the money and run type companies.

Not to mention the thousands of abandoned, orphaned, and suspended wells that taxpayers will help to clean up?

Farmers have an opportunity to generate a significant amount of their own electricity and lower their electricity costs.

But on Agrisilly often all we get is the complainers and naysayers who don't believe solar works even in the face of more and more of it being built especially in Alberta.

Why do they subsidize solar panels Chuck?
They have been around for a generation. Why do we need taxpayer money for something that people are willingly investing in?
Solar farms are not a hard sell. People like you are promoting all the time.

Same for Electric Vehicles. There benefits have been proven long ago. Why do they need taxpayer money to sell them to the higher income people who are the primary market? Can't they afford to pay thier own way?
I might buy my own Hybrid but why should I expect taxpayers to help pay for it.

If they cost virtualy nothing to recharge why do taxpayers subsidize the charging stations?