More solar farm

[cowgirl8]

They filmed today. They told us they'd come to our house so this morning i cleaned like a crazy woman.. Then, i put on makeup...and clean clothes. I was all prepared for them to get here at 1pm... then they call, delayed till 2pm... then at 2, they call and say to meet them at our land...ugh.. at least my house is very clean
So, luckily, they wanted just my husband. Interview went well. They did try to bait him with political comments.. I told him they would and he just laughed... but dang if they didnt...lol... She made the comment that she bet conservatives are mad at solar power... Husband said, "I'm as conservative as you can get, but that doesnt mean i have to follow what people consider conservative. I believe in climate change, i just dont believe its manmade." He was more detailed than that but just because a person is conservative, doesnt mean they want to be as green as we can.. In fact, we've done more for the environment than most liberals.. It was CBS, so, who knows how this will end up, might be made into a whole different story, right...lol
Anywhoot, they said its suppose to air around the 19th on Eye On Earth series on CBS....

 

[Lucky]

I'm happy for the people that leased to the Solar farms if that's what they wanted, but feel really bad for all the families that were happy with what they had and now have to live with the farm. Like I've said I'm maybe 10 miles to the North and hoping they don't get any closer. I've worked way to hard to get this place bought and in shape to be forced out. I'm sure hope the money is really really good. Oil wells and wind turbines leave usable land but solar farms leave nothing but a heat wave.

I would like to know more about the natural gas backup plan you spoke of. I'm thinking the gas line over there is only 8", wonder if they plan on running a bigger one.

 

[RDFF]

I was on the advisory board for a wind farm project up here. Anti-winders got all bent out of shape that they cause "health effects". What it really was all about was they didn't want the turbines in "they're backyard". We've got turbine farms all around us, but they got 'em shut down on our project and a number of others in the area too. They were pushing that "solar isn't so obvious" and would be a "better alternative energy source".

Well, now they're getting what they wished for... solar farms are going in all over the place here too. Ugliest things I've ever seen. And on top of it, a wind turbine only takes about 4 times as much land out of production per MW produced as the local natural gas plant, and the rest continues to produce ag product just like it used to. These solar farms take out 70 times as much!

Guess that's "progress"!

Solar has a place... all of our buildings should have solar roofs... I'm even considering converting my "windbreak" into a "solar windbreak grove"... Putting in the solar on something like a scaffold framework, so that the panels are on the top in a row maybe 20' wide x about 1000' long... and then planting determinate height trees/shrubbery on each side of the scaffold structure to "hide it". If the government subsidies will help me make my windbreak "pay" even better.................... why not?

 

[cowgirl8]

I'm happy for the people that leased to the Solar farms if that's what they wanted, but feel really bad for all the families that were happy with what they had and now have to live with the farm. Like I've said I'm maybe 10 miles to the North and hoping they don't get any closer. I've worked way to hard to get this place bought and in shape to be forced out. I'm sure hope the money is really really good. Oil wells and wind turbines leave usable land but solar farms leave nothing but a heat wave.

I would like to know more about the natural gas backup plan you spoke of. I'm thinking the gas line over there is only 8", wonder if they plan on running a bigger one.

I talked to a lady up your way that said if they step foot on her property she's sue. Here's the deal.. They want nothing to do with people who dont want in. They can not take your land, period....There were a few over here that thought they could squeeze out more money and held out for a higher offer. They didnt get one and got left out. They wanted only people who were wanting in. But, if you relied on a view of your neighbors property and they agreed to solar panels, i dont know what to say. I'm under contract to not say what we'll get paid, but, it beats cattle by about 10Xs with no work...
And technically, once finished they sure dont look as bad as someone splitting up their acreage and campers and trailer houses filling in like its doing on south 410, just out of Rugby... Solar farms would be the quietest neighbors you'll ever have..
Not sure about the gas line... Have you been out there to see what all they are doing. Husband has made plans that when the work pads are no longer used and they need a place to dump the gravel, they can use some of our land. Some of the pads they've put in are worth 100s of thousands in gravel, good stuff too... just for that we're excited about the solar farm.

 

[Lucky]

I understand that they can't force someone off their land but they can lower your property value by 50% or more. I've talked with my neighbor about it and we both agree that if it comes our way we are both pretty much out of luck and won't have a choice but to opt in. I'm with you on the trashy people moving in around you but that's to be expected when you live in the country and they rarely last 30 yrs like this deal will. This deal is allot like the lake, people are very divided. Bottom line for me is that if I valued money more than the land I would sell the land. I want more land and cattle, not less. I drive to Rugby nearly everyday but just haven't crossed over yet to see what's been done yet. I've talked to people that have looked at it as progress and some that have been very upset and say they've destroyed a beautiful area and will never go back to look again.

 

[Lucky]

I was on the advisory board for a wind farm project up here. Anti-winders got all bent out of shape that they cause "health effects". What it really was all about was they didn't want the turbines in "they're backyard". We've got turbine farms all around us, but they got 'em shut down on our project and a number of others in the area too. They were pushing that "solar isn't so obvious" and would be a "better alternative energy source".

Well, now they're getting what they wished for... solar farms are going in all over the place here too. Ugliest things I've ever seen. And on top of it, a wind turbine only takes about 4 times as much land out of production per MW produced as the local natural gas plant, and the rest continues to produce ag product just like it used to. These solar farms take out 70 times as much!

Guess that's "progress"!

Solar has a place... all of our buildings should have solar roofs... I'm even considering converting my "windbreak" into a "solar windbreak grove"... Putting in the solar on something like a scaffold framework, so that the panels are on the top in a row maybe 20' wide x about 1000' long... and then planting determinate height trees/shrubbery on each side of the scaffold structure to "hide it". If the government subsidies will help me make my windbreak "pay" even better.................... why not?

The Natural gas power plant in Paris, Tx (25 miles from the Solar Field in this thread) produces 1,200 megawatts on 70 acres. The actual plant takes up about 10 acres the rest is grass. The plant is very reliable and rarely has any downtime. This solar field will make 1,200 megawatts of Government subsidized unreliable power and take up 20-25 thousand acres, definitely sounds like progress to me too.

 

[cowgirl8]

I understand that they can't force someone off their land but they can lower your property value by 50% or more. I've talked with my neighbor about it and we both agree that if it comes our way we are both pretty much out of luck and won't have a choice but to opt in. I'm with you on the trashy people moving in around you but that's to be expected when you live in the country and they rarely last 30 yrs like this deal will. This deal is allot like the lake, people are very divided. Bottom line for me is that if I valued money more than the land I would sell the land. I want more land and cattle, not less. I drive to Rugby nearly everyday but just haven't crossed over yet to see what's been done yet. I've talked to people that have looked at it as progress and some that have been very upset and say they've destroyed a beautiful area and will never go back to look again.

There are a few who they bought the land from. One guy had bought his a few years ago before the price of land went way up.. I'm guessing he doubled his money in 5 years.. He sold out. Thats what we would have done if it was near our house, just sell and buy something else... The land we put in hurts no one, its not near any houses or anything..

 

[cowgirl8]

So, this is the road leading to our place that is going into panels.. It leads to our trap and corrals, and hay storage. This road has always been crummy. Most stood under water most of the year. Commissioner added rock, but they were the size of large oranges.. Hated going down this road and most times i'd go out of my way for miles to come in the back way just to avoid this road..... Now, its a highway.. They took this road into our place, past our corrals, through our trap to a large landing and will take it almost to a hayfield. So many of the roads are being improved this way, by the solar people and maintained by them also... not sure if it will continue once finished, but, the road now has good bones for years.

 

[bird dog]

Did all the people that opted in get paid the same on a per acre basis?

 

[cowgirl8]

That I don't know. I hope I don't find out we got hosed. Lol

 

[RDFF]

That was one of the concerns that was raised when I was on the wind project advisory board here, and because of that "local level" advisory board being embedded within the developer's project, we got it written right into the contract for EVERYBODY, that if they paid someone else more to get their land into the project after some had already signed their land in, then they had to go back and pay those already signed in the same... specific language to that effect, AND specific language that all participants in the project HAD to receive the same compensation per participation (meaning, so much per acre signed in, so much per turbine, so much per foot of road, so much per foot of buried transmission, etc... every impact had to be compensated the same across the entire project).

IMO, if you don't have THAT in writing, good luck. You have to get the whole community to buy into that kind of thing though, or you won't have any leverage to accomplish it. They'll want to have it written in that you can't discuss compensation or any of the terms of the contract with anyone. That's standard development language, and in part, it is to protect them from their competitors that are vying for the same properties in the area, and that's somewhat legitimate, and common in industry...... however, it WASN'T how we operated here, and it DID force competition between the developers to "ante up" if they wanted to be in the game.

Other things that got changed entirely because of the advisory board? Setbacks from homes, payment structure for everything... it started out with a payment structure based only if you ended up with a turbine, and roads. That changed to payments within 1/2 mile of a turbine, payments if you had land in the "harvested wind elipse", payments for buried cable, roads, field compaction, radio and TV interference, revenue sharing with the local school districts and fire departments, a community fund which the advisory board had control over for local annual philanthropy, ... just LOTS of changes that would never, ever have been done without that board.

In the end, the company I was working for (for free as a community advisory board member) won the battle for the land contracts, but lost the battle against the "anti-wind" campaign... so the project failed, unfortunately IMO. The anti-winders dragged out the process so long that they bled the investor dry. Now the area (so far not in my township, but within about 7 miles of me) is being inundated by these solar farms covering up acres and acres of some of the best ag land anywhere in the world, and THAT's all being done without the benefit of a local/area advisory board.

I'd strongly recommend that anyone considering these installations insist on community wide information meetings, AND, a local community member advisory board with EACH company. We obviously had 0 "power" or decision making ability OVER what the company ultimately decided to do... but our voice WAS heard, and they DID listen and respond, and make changes specifically because of that involvement, AND, I believe most importantly, THE COMPANY greatly appreciated and valued the input of us as members of the community. None of the language mentioned above would ever have made it into the contract, and it would have been purely "standard boilerplate language", had the advisory board not been involved.

 

[cowgirl8]

We covered our bases.. more than most people.. I think we'll be just fine.. specially if we get their cast away gravel.. I think my husband is more excited about that than being able to retire soon... gotta have something to do during your retirement..... right

 

[callmefence]

The Natural gas power plant in Paris, Tx (25 miles from the Solar Field in this thread) produces 1,200 megawatts on 70 acres. The actual plant takes up about 10 acres the rest is grass. The plant is very reliable and rarely has any downtime. This solar field will make 1,200 megawatts of Government subsidized unreliable power and take up 20-25 thousand acres, definitely sounds like progress to me too.

How much land is dedicated to producing and delivering the natural gas. ???

Also help me understand why anyone would care about what land that doesn't belong to you is being used for.?? Seems to be a very entitled way of thinking...

 

[cowgirl8]

How much land is dedicated to producing and delivering the natural gas. ???

Also help me understand why anyone would care about what land that doesn't belong to you is being used for.?? Seems to be a very entitled way of thinking...

I dont think thats uncommon, lol... i think its worse in the city than it is in the country..

 

[callmefence]

I dont think thats uncommon, lol... i think its worse in the city than it is in the country..

I'm not so sure about that.. lol

 

[cowgirl8]

I'm not so sure about that.. lol

HOAs, are a result....and people still, even though they sign a contract, feel they should be able to do whatever they want on their property.. I dont know how many people complaining they cant fly a flag of whatever sort in front of their house... they signed a agreement. Country people can only complain.

 

[504RP]

Was going to town this morning and saw a new solar farm being constructed on a nice or was a nice hay meadow. Went by there less than a week ago and there wasn't anything that would have indicated they were going to do any type of construction there.

That is less than 3 miles from my property. I guess they are getting serious about wind/solar energy.

I would think they could find better locations for solar farms than to build on prime farm land that could be used for agriculture.

Looks to me like solar farms would benifit just as well in areas like ridges and other rocky locations that aren't of much value for anything else verses using prime farm land. Which is disappearing more all of the time.

 

[Lucky]

How much land is dedicated to producing and delivering the natural gas. ???

Also help me understand why anyone would care about what land that doesn't belong to you is being used for.?? Seems to be a very entitled way of thinking...

Natural gas compressor stations and well heads don't cover 25,000 acres in one spot. Probably more like 1-50 acres. Also the pipelines are underground. I've got a pretty good size pipeline on this place and it doesn't bother a thing.

Not sure how to answer this question Fence. I would never try to stop someone from doing something with their land but of course I care what goes on around me. In this business what your neighbor does can greatly affect you. You know this already so I'm not going to expand on it.
The only person I talked with about the solar farm that is actually leased to them (or claimed to be) was very happy with his deal. I was in a hurry and didn't know this fella but if I heard him correctly I've made pretty close to his numbers with cattle. The number he gave per acre would just make my annual land payment and would take 25 years to make up for a direct sale at todays prices. Hopefully he was just wanting to talk who knows. Like I said I really hope everyone is happy with the deal they made and it all works out for them.

 

[cowgirl8]

Natural gas compressor stations and well heads don't cover 25,000 acres in one spot. Probably more like 1-50 acres. Also the pipelines are underground. I've got a pretty good size pipeline on this place and it doesn't bother a thing.

Not sure how to answer this question Fence. I would never try to stop someone from doing something with their land but of course I care what goes on around me. In this business what your neighbor does can greatly affect you. You know this already so I'm not going to expand on it.
The only person I talked with about the solar farm that is actually leased to them (or claimed to be) was very happy with his deal. I was in a hurry and didn't know this fella but if I heard him correctly I've made pretty close to his numbers with cattle. The number he gave per acre would just make my annual land payment and would take 25 years to make up for a direct sale at todays prices. Hopefully he was just wanting to talk who knows. Like I said I really hope everyone is happy with the deal they made and it all works out for them.

That doesnt sound right.. what did he say he was getting per acre?

 

[Lucky]

How much land is dedicated to producing and delivering the natural gas. ???

Also help me understand why anyone would care about what land that doesn't belong to you is being used for.?? Seems to be a very entitled way of thinking...

That doesnt sound right.. what did he say he was getting per acre?

It was less than $200, which from doing a little research sounds low to me.