MEGA solar projects coming to the Rochester/ western Finger Lakes

[Bigfoot 327]

Several solar farms covering thousands of acres are in the works. One will have more than one million panels and a blanket more than 3 square miles of land. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2019/01/24/gigantic-solar-farms-planned-rochester-region/2666009002

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Bigfoot 327

[turkeyfeathers]

Wonder how the folks in Ithaca feel about this     No fracking signs everywhere        Different I know but those folks in Ithaca are as green and granola as they come so they very well may be all for this

[Bigfoot 327]

I live 6 miles due West of Ithaca, so I am surrounded by their "feelings".  I also recently served on a town committee to rewrite the towns solar and wind laws.

Our residents successfully fought off an attempt to cram a small wind farm into our township (that some of the Ithaca types strongly supported).

In a general kind of way, some people locally want the use of all fossil fuels eliminated as soon as possible and replaced with "clean" energy. Some do everything legal to block local gas related projects including Cornell dorms and infrastructure such as pipelines. They also are pushing to close the local power plant and replace it with solar. (Not sure how that's gonna work on a cold Winter night).

But they are divided when it comes to what clean energy looks like. They support small projects and local control. Many hate corporations and large projects.

Large solar projects are permitted by the Public Services Commission and local laws, planning boards and town boards are bypassed by something called an Article 10 proceeding. Locals are given a couple of seats on a board, but basically they have no authority, no control.

Large solar projects have issues much different than a few panels on your roof.

What happens to the large number of panels when the project is over? Is the land returned to it's prior use/condition?

If the project is several square miles in area, will herbicide be used over the entire area to suppress vegetation? What happens to run off?

Pretty sure there won't be deer inside the fence...……...

[Rattler]

There are advantages and disadvantages to all options.  The future will prove the disadvantages associated with a solar farm like this, far out weigh the advantages.  The only good thing about it is, it will have to happen to prove what a bad idea it really is.  The greenies have no ability to extrapolate into the future.

[The_Real_TCIII]

They already ruined my favorite field along the Thruway just West of Geneseo CC by covering it with panels. I hope theyre powering something

[Hunter007]

Don't know how much power they are going to get in upstate NY from solar  , see them  when I was out west near Las Vegas in the desert

I think  they take up lots of space for little energy production and that's even in the desert , I guess time will tell .   Nothing wrong with them experimenting with it I guess .

 

[Merlot]

Why not use the New York Thruway ROW between the eastbound and westbound lanes for this experiment? Why mess up the countryside? New York State lawmakers need to think this through a bit more, in my opinion. How does a solar panel work at top efficiency with clouds overhead most of the time? 

[Nomad]

43 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

They already ruined my favorite field along the Thruway just West of Geneseo CC by covering it with panels. I hope theyre powering something

Did you hunt there ? I always saw plenty of deer there each time I drove by .

[moog5050]

I represent one of the owners of one the solar farms.  It’s a very good business.  

[First-light]

We have wind farm in Howard. It's on the south side of 17 I'm on the north. I see it during the day and the red lights at night doesn't bother me. Another wind farm 3x as big is going up on our side. We were to be a part of it but they killed the leases a year ago, too costly to connect and too much protected waters around me. About 3 weeks ago surveyors were on my property. My neighbor talked to them and they said my land was going to be used in the wind farm. They nicely surveyed my property making it along all the boundaries. Well I called the project manager to let him know the leases were terminated. He looked into it and told me it was a mistake, "you and 5 other properties had surveys completed' it was old information in the system that was never updated. These people can be trusted...lol

[NonTypical]

6 hours ago, Bigfoot 327 said:

I live 6 miles due West of Ithaca, so I am surrounded by their "feelings".  I also recently served on a town committee to rewrite the towns solar and wind laws.

Our residents successfully fought off an attempt to cram a small wind farm into our township (that some of the Ithaca types strongly supported).

In a general kind of way, some people locally want the use of all fossil fuels eliminated as soon as possible and replaced with "clean" energy. Some do everything legal to block local gas related projects including Cornell dorms and infrastructure such as pipelines. They also are pushing to close the local power plant and replace it with solar. (Not sure how that's gonna work on a cold Winter night).

But they are divided when it comes to what clean energy looks like. They support small projects and local control. Many hate corporations and large projects.

Large solar projects are permitted by the Public Services Commission and local laws, planning boards and town boards are bypassed by something called an Article 10 proceeding. Locals are given a couple of seats on a board, but basically they have no authority, no control.

Large solar projects have issues much different than a few panels on your roof.

What happens to the large number of panels when the project is over? Is the land returned to it's prior use/condition?

If the project is several square miles in area, will herbicide be used over the entire area to suppress vegetation? What happens to run off?

Pretty sure there won't be deer inside the fence...……...

They tried unsuccessfully to put some across the street from my buddies place on Black Oak Rd. That should be just west of you, right? Are you off of 79?

[dbHunterNY]

45 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

I represent one of the owners of one the solar farms.  It’s a very good business.  

if you can get them in. long process.

[Bigfoot 327]

Yes, I'm off 79 on 327 ( Bigfoot was once a nickname given to me by a senior deer hunter, hence my handle Bigfoot 327). I suspect your friends name is Biff.

By the way, I have had a 7K system on my roof since 2014. It makes power even in the dead of Winter. This morning, with 2 inches of snow and ice on my 28 panels, the system was only producing about 200 Watts. After I cleaned the panels off, production jumped to almost 3000 Watts.

I don't buy any power from the grid. Over the course of a year it makes more electricity than we use. My electric bill is $16 a month - the cost of being hooked up to NYSEG.

I originally figured just over a 7 year payback on my system, but given that the cost of electricity keeps going up, it will be shorter.

Uncle Sam and NYSERDA pay for most of the cost. 

 

[ATbuckhunter]

Im all for them, but maybe farms blanketing thousands of acres will be an eye sore. Maybe they should give more incentives for solar pannels to be put on people houses. 

[Jeremy K]

A nicely worded one sided story.

[raymerlo]

Buy stock in candle wax

[The_Real_TCIII]

16 hours ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

Did you hunt there ? I always saw plenty of deer there each time I drove by .

No never, just looked forward to driving by at dusk! Id actually time my drives to do so when possible lol. Imagine driving those pines!

[moog5050]

15 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

if you can get them in. long process.

Key is proximity to main power lines to sell power to grid.  Municipality receives pilot payments far in excess of what farmer was paying for ag tax rates.  And farm owner is paid by operator of solar farm who sells to grid and leases land from owner.  It’s a win all the way around except the loss of the pretty green space.  If you own the right parcel, it’s very profitable.  

[Nomad]

30 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

No never, just looked forward to driving by at dusk! Id actually time my drives to do so when possible lol. Imagine driving those pines!

We’ll be passing them on the thruway shortly ..... Wonder how many try to,shed hunt there ?

[The_Real_TCIII]

2 hours ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

We’ll be passing them on the thruway shortly ..... Wonder how many try to,shed hunt there ?

I think it got hunted pretty hard, at least before the solar panels went in. So it probably gets shed hunted

[The_Real_TCIII]

We need to get this guy on the forum lol

 

[Nomad]

Didn’t see anything near the panels today, but 290 about a mile towards 90 from Delaware ave. There was a whole heard of deer 12-15 .