Insider Look: Building a Community Solar Farm

Ever wondered how those large solar arrays benefitting entire communities get built and managed? This webinar will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the world of community solar development. Joined by Samantha Wiebe from Green Street Power Partners!

[@raylevesque5379]

I enjoy learning how my investment in NSun helps promote the growth not only of solar photovoltaic as a clean electricity source, but also energy justice and making solar energy available to those who can't install solar because they don't own their roof, having shading, etc. You're doing important work!

[@daveol]

at about 49:15 into the conversation, there is a question about whether solar panels could just be replaced in a given project. There really aren't any inherent reasons why panels could be replaced in a solar farm. As noted, any leasing agreements would need to be updated/refreshed. Let's say the lifetime of an installation is 25 years (typical panel warranty). Community solar didn't exist 25 years ago, there were no states with regulations that allowed for community solar. There were very very few large scale solar systems in 1999 (a 1 MW system was considered huge in those days!). Another issue with direct replacement of panels from 25 years ago is that in recent years, the panels have become physically larger so the racking would likely need to be adjusted. All that said, if a solar project owner already has a site leased and already has an interconnection agreement with the utility, I expect that we'll see more and more of what is being suggested - leases will be renegotiated, panels (and electronics) will be updated, etc. While there are plenty of good sites for solar PV which are not yet in use, many high quality sites are already in use so it doesn't make sense to disturb more land, etc. Reuse! :-)

[@ThomasMuellerUSA]

Emmanuel Diaz should probably stop doing drugs or at least mute his mic while on webcasts.