#solarfarms — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #solarfarms, aggregated by home.social.
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#RhodeIsland's largest #landfill #SolarFarm now online
Story by Kate Wilkinson
July 27, 2024BRISTOL, R.I. (WPRI) — "Nearly 21,000 solar panels at the Bristol Transfer Station are now turning sunlight into power.
"And at more than 90 acres, it’s now the largest landfill solar farm in the state.
"Laura Frazier, the managing director of business development and strategy at NuGen Capital, said the site is expected to generate 8.7 million kilowatt hours each year.
"To put that in perspective, Frazier said a gas-powered car would have to drive 9 million miles to offset that much green energy, which is the equivalent of driving 375 times around the Earth.
"A ribbon cutting was held Thursday to celebrate the panels officially being connected to the grid. Frazier said the panels would create enough energy to power 700 homes.
"But Frazier said that green energy will actually be allocated to Toray Plastics, which the #NorthKingstown-based company bought out for the next 25 years.
"While Frazier said it can be more expensive to build on a landfill, the location has its perks.
"For example, a landfill offers a lot of open space, which she said means they don’t have to clear out any trees to install the panels.
"The project also didn’t face any opposition.
"'It doesn’t bother the neighbors,' she said. 'It’s not easily seen by any of them.'
"She also said the project received widespread support from local leaders.
"After eight years of planning, she’s finally glad to see this project come to life."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ri-s-largest-landfill-solar-farm-now-online/ar-BB1qHDuE
#SolarFarms #SolarEnergy
#RenewablesNow #Brownfield #BristolRhodeIsland #SolarSundays -
Scientists test #agriculture and #SolarEnergy on #Illinois #farms
Two experiments in the state are measuring which crops could grow well under these panels.
By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco
Jul 18, 2024, 2:58pm EDT"Thousands of #wildflowers are blooming under rows of solar panels in eastern Illinois. #Milkweeds, #BlackEyedSusans and native #PrairieGrasses catch the sunlight that streams past solar panels on one end of this 54-acre property near Champaign.
"'Obviously, this setting is not perfect for the farming system,' D.K. Lee, a professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said about the narrow space between solar panel arrays.
"But this experimental station called #SolarFarm 2.0 could help UIUC scientists determine whether the marriage between Midwestern agriculture and solar power will be a happy one. Researchers are piloting how crops such as grains and #soybeans used primarily to feed livestock grow with solar panels obstructing their full view of the sun. The counterintuitive practice is called #agrivoltaics, a nascent industry that partners solar developers looking for large plots of land and farmers looking to make additional income.
"That’s why two parallel experiments are underway here to find out what can grow and thrive under solar panels. To hit the ambitious clean energy targets set by state and federal officials, solar power will have to increase close to seven times over current capacity by 2035. That will mean millions of acres devoted to solar power — many of which could be in America’s #farmlands. But to make sure that agricultural communities aren’t left behind by the clean energy transition, scientists want to know what it will take for life to persist beneath solar panels — potentially a first step for farmers and solar power to co-exist.
"'We can only farm about 70% of the land here,' said Bruce E. Branham, professor of horticulture at UIUC. 'So we’ve got 30% of the land that would be farmed in full sun that is just vacant.'
"But in just two years and despite physical constraints, initial findings suggest that the #sorghum grain could be a promising crop to grow alongside solar panels. Branham said that so far it appears that combining sorghum with solar panels has resulted in a 59% increase in efficiency. And wildlife, including #birds and #bees, are flocking to the improved habitat. It’s a good start, but there’s still ways to go before solar farms like these are generating serious energy.
"'This is a 54-acre site, and we’re getting 12 megawatts,' Banham said. 'A lot of power plants are much, much greater than that.'
"In all, Solar Farm 2.0 produces close to 1% of the generating power of the #ClintonPowerStation, a #NuclearPowerPlant just a 45 minute drive east. But for Banham and others, this presents an opportunity to combine Midwestern row crops with solar power to generate enough energy to compete with #FossilFuels and other clean energy alternatives."
#SolarPunkSunday #SolarFarms #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #LocalEnergy #NoNewNukes #NoNukes #SolarFarm #SaveTheFarms #IllinoisFarms #MidwestFarms #SolarSundays #Agrivoltaic
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#EnergyTransition: The US is putting enough #solar to power 70,000 homes on old nuclear weapons sites https://electrek.co/2024/06/05/us-solar-nuclear-weapons-sites/ #USpol
"US Department of Energy is going to repurpose sites previously used in the #NuclearWeapons program into #SolarFarms... These are the first projects as part of the #Biden's Cleanup to #CleanEnergy initiative, launched in 2023, in which portions of #FederalLand previously used in the US nuclear #weapons program will be repurposed into clean #energy sites."