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“Not solar farms.”
The plain white sign with plain black lettering offers no other explanation. For that, you need to chat with the folks at the Harvest Solar booth.
At this year’s AgroExpo in St. Johns, the sign beckoned passing farmers to have a conversation about solar power. The sign got its start at a trade show years ago, Harvest Solar’s Jeff Schulz told Michigan Farm News.
“People would kind of scoff and walk by, and say, ‘Well, we don’t do solar farms,’ and that they’re afraid of losing farmland to solar,” Schulz said.
“So, somebody at the show hand wrote on a sign, ‘Not solar farms,’ and it’s a conversation point that we don’t want to take up farmland either.”
Instead, Schulz said that Harvest Solar prioritizes using space on roofs, driveways or other farmstead areas that aren’t in production.
A Certified Crop Advisor himself, Schulz said he hears from farmers who are concerned about environmental impacts of solar installations — concerns that he said are based on lots of misconceptions.
“We’re putting U.S.-made steel into the ground to hold the solar array up,” he said.
“It’s galvanized — it’s the same as putting a clothesline post in. The PVC pipe, the conduit that has the wires below ground, is no different than drainage tile either. So, we’re following code. We’re doing everything as responsibly as we can.”
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Another misconception, Schulz said, comes from a belief that Michigan isn’t a great state for solar production.
“People don’t give Michigan enough credit for actually being an efficient solar state,” he said.
“One thing that most people do not know is that the cooler a solar panel is in sunlight, the more efficient it is. So, on a sunny day, we’re more efficient in the winter than what Arizona is for the same amount of sun, because when you keep a semiconductor cool, it operates better, just like a computer.”
For farmers who haven’t considered solar in the past, Schulz said the biggest benefit boils down to who you pay for your energy.
“Solar can produce energy for less than what somebody is buying it for now and depending on the business situation and if a five-year a 10-year payoff is quick enough for them, it can be a great return on investment.”
Harvest Solar works with utility companies to hook into a property, “and if you’re making enough electricity, you’ll actually make the meter run backwards,” Schulz noted.
“And then when you’re not making solar at nighttime or in months when you don’t make as much solar, it will you’ll use up your credits,” he added.
“So, it makes most of the energy that property owners need, but they still get a small bill from the utility company for distribution and the infrastructure part that they’re investing in.”
Harvest Solar can demonstrate the solar energy possibilities for property owners with a free custom site analysis. Visit harvestsolar.com or call 888-90-SOLAR to learn more.
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