Utility-Scale Solar Clean Energy or Political Scam? –Part 1 Utility-Scale Solar

This article is Part 1 of a series on utility-scale solar installations. This is a 4 part series that covers much of the story behind utility-scale solar, the political impetus behind renewable energy, the impact on land owners, and the benefit to the county.

• Part 1 – Introduces utility-scale solar, discusses who benefits from these solar installations, and addresses property owner rights.
• Part 2 – Discusses the Green New Deal, subsides, and Renewable Energy Certificates
• Part 3 – Will discuss two solar companies and their politics
• Part 4 – Will conclude the series by covering what Fayette County gets out of utility-scale solar

What is Utility-Scale Solar

Utility-scale solar is what most people refer to as a solar farm. However, this term “solar farm” is not only inaccurate, it’s deceptive. There is nothing agricultural about a utility-scale solar installation. As a matter of fact, these solar installations are destructive to agriculture, wildlife habitats, and natural drainage. They also have an impact on nearby property values and they destroy of the rural ambiance of the area in which they’re located. Some companies implement what they call Agrivotaics, where they install thin film panels on taller mounts and plant grass beneath the solar arrays. They even have traveling flocks of sheep they use to create the perception of being agrarian friendly. But, for the most part, they oversell on their value and under deliver on their results.

Recently, I began research on how utility-scale solar facilities can be regulated to reduce the impact on rural communities. There are many aspects of impact, from property devaluation to loss of wildlife habitats to contamination of water sources. As I delved into how these impacts on the rural living can be mitigated with zoning regulations, it became obvious there were other considerations that aren’t quite as apparent. The touted benefit of solar is its ability to generate clean energy while producing no CO2 or micro-scale particulates. The real problem is the fact that utility-scale solar facilities only generate electricity at the rating of the facility for a few hours in the middle of the day when plenty of bright sunshine is available directly overhead. Does that mean utility-scale solar a disingenuous model?

The solar model is disingenuous in that implies general power generation (i.e. a 100MW facility), but the actual result is sporadic generation with a wink and a nod. The expectation is that people know it only generates for a few hours in the middle of the day. But, is that the only deception in utility-scale solar. As I researched further, I found insidious undertones that are not technological, but political in nature. More importantly, they’re contrary to the conservative values in Fayette County. In general it takes roughly 10 acres of land to install 1 MegaWatt (MW) of utility-scale solar power. That being the case, to install a 100 MW facility would take about 1,000 acres of land. In the case of Fayette County, that would be prime agricultural land (farmland) and utility-scale solar infrastructure is only taxed at 12.5%, which we’ll cover in detail later. The reason is the Tennessee legislature decided to only apply infrastructure taxes for 3 peak hours of production. So, for a 100MW facility, the assumption is it will only produces 100 MW for about 3 hours per day. That’s a pitiful production story and begs the question, “Why would anyone do this?”

The payback model for agrivoltaics is rather interesting so let’s look at the numbers. Agrivoltaics costs roughly $1.20 per watt, so 1 MW would cost $1,200,000 to install. That 1 MW installation will produce about 2,146 MW hours per year. Power companies pay roughly $52 per MWh, so a 1 MW utility-scale solar installation will generate $111,592 per year (2,146 x 52). Return on Investment (ROI) is calculated using this formula: (income ÷ investment) x 100. So (111,592 ÷ 1,200,000) x 100 = 9.3. That means the ROI for 1 MW of utility-scale solar is 9.3%. Normally, with equipment purchases, the expected ROI is 15-25%, and anything less than 10% is considered poor ROI. So a typical good equipment investment with break even in 4-7 years. Utility-scale solar takes more than 10 years to break even on the investment.

So, with poor ROI, how do solar companies make the investment work? Well, as mentioned, they receive subsidies, rebates, tax credits, production credits, and most importantly, they sell Renewable Energy Certificates. It should also be noted that in Tennessee, power generated by utility-scale solar installations is exempt from the 7% sales tax. All of this will be covered in a subsequent article, but let’s suffice to say that RECs are a huge boondoggle for utility-scale solar. We’ll see that RECs bring the ROI back into the good to excellent range for utility-scale solar.

Who Really Benefits from Solar?

To understand who benefits, and why companies are invested in utility-scale solar, we must evaluate the reason utility-scale solar emerged as a “preferred” renewable energy technology in Tennessee. In order to understand why this has become a pervasive issue, particularly in counties that contain large amounts of farmland, we need to look at the political foundation underlying the solar initiative. This initiative was born out of a number of Democrat efforts to gain control over every aspect of our lives, and climate change was deemed a primary driver for gaining that control. The Green New Deal (GND), or Green New Scam as the president calls it, was heavily promoted to be codified in law by Democrats. What emerged was the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which implemented a portion of the GND, and other GND polices were implemented using Executive Orders. Still, other policies, such as the “Carbon Rule,” were implemented under the auspices of the EPA. With the IRA, hundreds of billions of dollars were designated for green energy projects. New grants, rebates, and subsidies were created, and new programs were built to force the country to move toward green energy. The results under these new mandates created an environment where renewable energy companies flourished.

But when the new president was elected, the Green New Deal hit insurmountable headwinds, and so did the IRA. Immediately, the new administration began unraveling the grants, rebates, subsidies, and tax credits. But the new administration could not stop Renewable Energy Certificates because of law codified in 1978 under Jimmy Carter, so they are still in play and are a key source of revenue for renewable energy companies. We must also understand that the government handouts for green energy weren’t just for the renewable energy companies. These benefits trickle down to every company that is in the loop of green energy production. Everything right down to the nuts and bolts used to implement green infrastructure is subsidized in some manner to offset the cost of implementing green energy, and all of this is at the expense of the taxpayers.

So, these solar companies offer land owners with lease or purchase options that are far better than the current value of the land. With these exorbitant offers, it’s difficult for land owners to see anything but great benefit and are completely unaware of the downside of utility-scale solar. This creates a conundrum for property owners, particularly those whose property is adjacent to the location where a utility-scale solar facility will be installed.

The Conundrum of Property Owner Rights?

I’ve heard a number people opine the issue of property owner rights. That is the rights of property owners to do as they see fit with their land and this is a valid argument, to a point. If a property owner wants to put up a new barn, plow a new field, or plant a different type of crop, that is one thing. But when a property owner does something that changes the landscape for 25 or 30 years, and those changes affect the value of other property owners land, that’s a completely different issue. Farmers have a historically difficult time making a consistent profit with traditional farming, so leasing or selling land to solar companies as a source income is attractive to them.

But if installing utility-scale solar on their land devalues surrounding properties, this is a critical issue that must be considered carefully. The important question to ask is this, “Should a conservative land owner sell their or lease their land to uber-progressive solar companies, who all all-in on the GND, for profit?” Let me ask the question this way, “Would a Christian sell their soul to the devil for profit?” Does a land owner have the right to arbitrarily make a profit to the detriment of the other land owners living around their property? According to Tennessee Law, they do have that right. This is where zoning regulations come into play, particularly for utility-scale solar installations.

Because the majority of residents in Fayette County are Bible believing Christians, I will raise a Bible passage to reference this issue. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 4:3-4

In other words; “How can a Christian justify doing direct harm to other Christian people for profit?”

Jesus told a parable of such a person filled with greed in Luke 12:16-20. A greedy young man had asked Jesus to demand that his brother give him his inheritance. Jesus rebuked the young man, then told a story; “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’”

The Bible also tells us, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36

If we have reached a point in Fayette County where profit is more important than our communities, God help us? When any of us do something that could or will affect others, we should demonstrate concern for them and make an honest effort to insure they are not harmed by what we plan to do. Since there seems to be a penchant for this kind of self interest, it is necessary to develop zoning regulations that insure the interests of all land owners are taken into consideration.

I’ll conclude this part of the series with this:

Jesus said, “In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12