That's a good question.
The thing is, many of the panels will need maintenance which usually means access for vehicles. The big mirror reflector system near Eldorado Dry Lake in Nevada needs o be checked each day. This means scraping vegetation/soils.
Which also reminds me that another issue with all of these solar farms will be dust. To clean dust off of panels will require a lot of water. The water wars in the southwest are already out of control. Many of these will either require wells or water to be trucked in from near by sources. Water is a scarcity out here. This issue alone will increase the cost of operation. It will require a large buy out of existing water rights.
If you could put a panel on each rooftop in a city like Palm Springs of Las Vegas, you would get as much power as any one of these large pieces of desert they are looking at. To me that is the no brainer win/win...
I am getting a solar well pump his summer. I would be off the grid if it would not cost me 45,000.00. Prices for the consumer need to come down.
|