Farming Sunshine

“Just as a flower or tree craves sunlight, so do solar panels”

Just as a flower or tree craves sunlight so do solar panels. It doesn’t take long drive through our county to encounter a crop farm. Now, you may see a solar farm.

A few miles outside of Chesterfield, off Center Point Road, is a farm in the making… a solar farm, the Centerfield Cooper Solar Farm. Its crop is energy, green energy. It’s been reported that the farm measures between 500 – 800 acres. No doubt its footprint is sizable… many panels dotting a landscape of rolling terrain, fenced in like livestock, and a band of trees that, as they mature, will help hide the farm from view.

It’s an awesome sight to behold.. almost breathtaking. Chesterfield County is very fortunate to land a project of this scale, and it’ll likely not be the last.

A massive training and practice facility.

When an area is considered for a utility-grade solar farm, one that generates solar power and feeds it to the “grid”, there are several considerations to qualify the land for use –

Is the plot close enough to a sub-station and power lines?
Is the ground fairly level?
How is the soil, does it drain well?
Are there any wetlands?
Are there any factors that cast shade?
Is the land open or will it require a lot of clearing and grading?
What is the zoning?

Of course, there are other criteria, but you get it… fairly level, clear & dry land near an electrical substation.

Solar energy generation is not new. The first commercial panel was first put out by Bell Laboratories in 1954, the first solar panel cell invented in 1941 by Russell Ohl, but it was Alexandre Edmond Becquerel in 1839, who discovered how to create an electric current from the suns rays. [1]

An interesting fact about “farming sunshine”, there is enough of it hitting the Earth every hour to meet all of humanity’s power needs for an entire year, and it is the most abundant energy source on Earth… astounding. [2]

If you own an adequate plot of land in the county with the right attributes, you likely have received a letter or call to consider leasing your land to a solar interest.

In our research, leasing land for solar use can be financially rewarding, with payment rates starting around $700 per acre, per year.

For a landowner, that kind of income is very attractive. There are many farmers including solar in their business model to generate income.

As technology advances and connectivity continues, smaller plots of land will become more at play for solar. And why not… it’s cheaper than fossil fuels, is the fastest energy source to deploy, produces no pollution when generating electricity, and the plants can last decades.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk said of solar – “We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky called the sun. You don’t have to do anything. It just works. It shows up everyday and produces ridiculous amounts of power”.

It’s very cool that Chesterfield County is capturing it.

Rodney / publisher