What are the Pros and Cons of Owning a Solar Farm?

Solar farms are an excellent way to generate solar power. It is an area with multiple solar panels that are used to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar farms have a higher efficiency rating than other methods of generating electricity, such as coal and nuclear power plants. Plus, they’re greatly sustainable.

Unfortunately, its benefits does have opposing disadvantages that you can earn about below.

Pros

Sustainable

Both coal and gas plants produce a high amount of CO2 emissions but coal emits more CO2 than gas. Coal plants emit around twice as much CO2 as natural gas plants. Solar farms do not emit any greenhouse gases, making them the most sustainable type of power plant. The materials used to build them can last for two decades and beyond.

Energy-Saving

Solar farms are a great way to help energy-saving for its local area because it emits clean, renewable energy. Solar farms are becoming more economic and feasible because they are improving the technology and the use of solar panels.

Quiet

Solar farms are quiet because they use photovoltaic panels which converts sunlight into electricity, and the electricity can be transmitted the same way as other power plants. It doesn’t use any heavy mechanical components found in typical coal and gas plants, reducing its noise footprint.

Cons

Storage

Solar farms are problematic because they require a large amount of space to generate power. Even though solar panels are becoming more efficient, the solar farm is still limited by the number of panels it can contain.

Irregularity

Solar farms can only produce power at peak hours, such as during the middle of the day or late afternoon, when demand for power is low and the sun is high.

Chariot Energy has a great explanation on how solar farms work and how they’re valuable. Read more about it below.

What is a Solar Farm?

A solar farm is a large collection of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that absorb energy from the sun, convert it into electricity and send that electricity to the power grid for distribution and consumption by customers like you. Solar farms — which you’ll sometimes see being called solar parks or photovoltaic power stations — are usually mounted to the ground instead of rooftops and come in all shapes and sizes. 

Types of Solar Farms

Of the tens of thousands of solar panel installations in the U.S., they can be grouped into two types of solar farms, both based on size.

• Utility-scale
• Community solar
• Utility-Scale Solar Power

First and foremost, the phrase “utility-scale” can be a bit misleading. Technically, all solar energy projects — whether it’s a few rooftop panels or a whole acre of them — are “on the grid” providing the local utility company with solar-powered electricity. The only time a solar energy project is not truly utility-scale is when it’s completely disconnected from the grid and not connected through a power line. This is almost never the case. 

But for our purposes and most discussions of this nature, utility-scale solar farms refer to those massive areas of land where solar panels stretch beyond the horizon. Such installations consist of hundreds of thousands of solar panels that absorb energy from the sun, generate an electric current and distribute that power on high-voltage power lines. The electricity travels along those power lines to the electricity grid, eventually making its way to your home. (Continue reading here to learn more)

If you want to install solar panels on your roof in Golden, CO, you can always count on us at Roper Roofing & Solar to provide you the best installations. Contact us today to learn more about everything that we can do for you.