Solar Farms

T

tmays

501 Club
Anyone here had an issue with solar companies buying or leasing large tracts of land for solar panels? They are attempting it near me and I have no desire to live amongst those things. What can be done, if anything? Know of any place that has been successful in fighting this and how they did it?
 
had a similar thing here, they wanted to flood our area with cell towers, much is if it up to zoning and building law, you can fight the town if they try and change the law to suit the big companies we had to deal with, we did beat em in the endif you have no zoning laws to protect the town it gets tougher
 
We’re in the middle of the solar farm fight, right now. Almost 3000 acres of prime farm land! They were projected to start construction 2 years ago but the community has held them off, so far. The decision is pending approval of the Ohio Power Setting Board. I think the solar company thought they would get immediate approval but underestimated the voice of the people. We have waited for two years for the decision and may still lose, in the end but we have to try.
About 5 miles to our East, there is a huge solar farm being put in, I’ve heard 5000 acres but not sure. They somehow quietly slipped that one through, never really heard anything about it until construction started. It’s a mess and I certainly don’t want to look out my kitchen window and have those things to stare at.
 
Few years back a firm wanted to install a wind turbine farm in central Iowa. The County Commissioners approved the application because of the increased property taxes.

Reading an article this morning. Not enough copper available to build the government mandated EV chargers.
 
Over 200 of us attended the zoning committee meeting yesterday to voice our opinions and ask questions. They let maybe 8 people speak. The committee did not approve, which was good. But unfortunately, that’s not the end of it. The solar company will now appeal to the board of supervisors. That will happen on June 17, so there is hope. But we live in the most corrupt county in the state. As of now it will be 6,500 acres but they are still looking for more.

Gary, I feel your pain. We did not find out about this until May 14 of this year. But it started out back in 2021! Lot of secrecy and if they could, they would do this without anyone’s knowledge.

Thank y’all for the comments and keep them coming!
 
There's a push in St. Joseph county Indiana, just a few miles southwest of me to put in a 2600 acre solar farm. Residents are fighting it but will probably loose due to the money pushing it.
 
We are in the middle of that issue now. People are saying no, County East of us and one North of us have passed ordances not allowing wind or solar in county. We have nuclear and wind now, don't need solar.
 
We have one of the largest nuclear plants there is not far from us. I see absolutely no need to almost surround me with solar panels.
 
We have 2 turbines on our farm and they wanted to use sis's farm for solar but dropped it cause the outlet was too far away. I DESPISE solar cause of the glare from the ugly things PLUS they are space hogs! Turbines only use a very small space and I can farm right up to them with no problem.
Got 1 small solar thing down the road here and its overgrown with weeds and trees so sun cant hit the panels anyway!! They found out that the labor needed to run them is out of the world!
Money under the table get them in the door!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Local farm has a wunderground.com weather site that features solar radiation by watts per square meter. Some sunny days its over 2K watts per meter square. Depending on battery storage that should be sufficient to operate a house and small farm.

Watch a Ukraine outdoor cooking show, pretty girls, that has a fairly large solar panel set up. Probably large enough for a small community. They year around graze and house sheep under and around the solar panels.
 
Eugene":nqyt406f said:
Local farm has a wunderground.com weather site that features solar radiation by watts per square meter. Some sunny days its over 2K watts per meter square. Depending on battery storage that should be sufficient to operate a house and small farm.

Watch a Ukraine outdoor cooking show, pretty girls, that has a fairly large solar panel set up. Probably large enough for a small community. They year around graze and house sheep under and around the solar panels.
Click to expand...

I will say that I am not against solar power. Wish I had my own solar power setup. But what’s being proposed here is 6500 acres of solar panels surrounded by 8-10 ft fences with razor wire on top. And the runoff will create erosion that will pretty much go left unchecked until it affects a panel(s). And property values for residents will plummet next to this monstrosity. Just got our little slice of heaven paid for and planned on living out my days here. If it does get built, I’ll have to live with it or cut my losses and go elsewhere. I very much want things to stay as they are now.
 
The erosion itself will be out of this world and no they will make no attempt to control runoff,--thats somebody elses problem in their eyes! The runoff from 6,500 acres of them would flood the neighboring farms.
 
There's been solar controversy here in SE Michigan as well. A company wanted to convert many hundreds of acres of prime cropland into a solar farm in a neighboring township. I'm a fan of solar, but only if it is done right. I work in nuclear security and my company's equipment is used to monitor and image radioactive decontamination. Right now, nuclear plants have no place to send their waste, so it sits in huge shielded containers out on pads at the plants. This is creating an ever-growing security issue at the plants themselves.

I'd much rather see big solar farms vs. having an accumulation of nasty stuff that is dangerous basically forever. The question is how to do that in a way that is equitable to all and does not create negative impacts on farmers. I'm confident that it will be worked out eventually, but there will be lots of fighting to get there.
 
Well the Board of Supervisors voted to let them build. So now we have to appeal. Which will require a lawyer. We have retained one. Initially all 5 supervisors were in favor of the solar facility. We swayed two of them to vote no. The fight continues
 
We also retained a lawyer, which gets quite expensive. The solar company has many lawyers! Of course, we all know who has the upper hand! Not us!
 
I think they are ugly and take up too much space for their output especially in winter with the sun at a very low angle for a short period of time. I think the electric cars will run into trouble long before 2035 anyway. Sheep and goats can do the mowing. I do believe hybrid cars are a good start. We should let the market make decisions. Thankfully right where I live isn't level enough for most developers nor enough left in large pieces. I do not have the answers. Vern
 
I got me a used Prius Wagon hybrid to bomb around town and short hops at 48mpg....so I can let the F150 sit more until I need to use it. Love the Prius...nimble, you can easily park it and save money....win, win
 
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