AVP_Matt - 9/12/2024 09:04

Haven't read the replies, but here's my take from a couple different angles.

Personally I can my nose regarding wind over solar because by taking those acres out of production, you're affecting more than just the operator of said ground. There's no seed, no fertlizer, minimal chemical, miminal fuel, and minimal equipment sold and serviced to operate those acres. If you add it up, that affects a lot of people just on the input side of the equation. On the output side, there's really no product that didn't already exist because in reality the power produced is just replacing capacity elsewhere so the net jobs gained there is minimal. However you're affecting everyone down the line from the dryer repairman to the guy loading barges or running an ethanol plant. Now if you're talking about taking an 80 out of a township, probably not a big deal even if every township in the country did it. But when you start talking 1000s of acres in one location, then the next township over has a solar farm of 2000 acres and the next has one that's 1500 etc, that adds up enough to affect the local economy. Whereas with wind, with all its other drawbacks, is only taking a small fraction of the acreage out of production. Many of the other drawbacks can be managed or regulated as well, but that's probably a subject for a different thread.

Now I also sit on my county's zoning board and both things have come up a lot. My big thing about being a board member is I really struggle with telling people what they can and can't do with their land as long as it's not affecting their neighbors or the community as a whole. So there's my dilemma with my thoughts stated above. It can be relatively easy to make a case (on an individual site level at least) about wind towers affecting the neighbors. Like I said some issues can be managed, some can be regulated, but its still possible to make a case. With solar that case is much, much harder, especially on an individual site level. How do you prove that guy loading barges was affected by this 15 acre solar farm? You can't and he likely wasn't to any quantifiable degree. However once you set precedent, that opens the door for a series of large projects to essentially get rubber stamped through.

There really is no easy answer, all things considered. I could probably go on a lot longer if someone was genuinely interested.

Edit: I guess I went off on more of a tangent than I realized. But the case I made about solar vs wind in the first paragraph can easily be transposed to a solar vs ethanol arguement.