Has land become free?

[Gilligan (Premo)]

I noted on the sign of the Hughesville Solar Farm that the 20 acres of solar panels will produce a peak of 5.5 MW of power.

Being in the power-producing business. I had to laff...but not of the "ha ha" variety,

A 5.5 MW LNG-turbine generator would take up about one-tenth of one acre...and produce 5.5 MW 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, where that pile of wasted taxpayer dollars will have an average output of around 1 to 1.5 MW...accounting for night and cloudy days. This insanity better end soon.

[glhs837]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

I noted on the sign of the Hughesville Solar Farm that the 20 acres of solar panels will produce a peak of 5.5 MW of power.

Being in the power-producing business. I had to laff...but not of the "ha ha" variety,

A 5.5 MW LNG-turbine generator would take up about one-tenth of one acre...and produce 5.5 MW 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, where that pile of wasted taxpayer dollars will have an average output of around 1 to 1.5 MW...accounting for night and cloudy days. This insanity better end soon.

Not before 2016, my friend.....sit back and have a beer, just cry off to the left of it a little

[MadDogMarine]

This is called green energy. Wait until the next hail storm. Let alone the cost to maintain banks of batteries. Cost is no object for "green energy". The reason it is called green energy because it removes green from our wallet into theirs. Little known fact. SMECO operates as a business with over 100% overhead as most govt. sanctioned monopolies do..

[BadGirl (Premo)]

That solar farm is huge. How many acres does it cover? How much was paid for the land?

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Originally Posted by BadGirl

That solar farm is huge. How many acres does it cover? How much was paid for the land?

47 or 48 acres. And "we" paid for it. It's beyond disgusting...

Another current SMECO system improvement project is the solar farm under construction on Route 5 in Hughesville. Of the $20 million total cost, $6 million will come from federal stimulus money. Use of solar was mandated by the state and if the co-op didn’t comply there would have been a penalty. Slater said when he is asked if it will save SMECO money, he said he replies, “It will cost less than the alternative (paying a fine).”
The solar farm is expected to be 18 percent efficient because of the number of cloudy days in the area, and will generate enough power to serve about 600 homes. “There are some pretty challenging economics for solar,” Slater said.

20 million bucks to waste nearly 50 acres to unreliably and inefficiently provide power to a measely 600 homes.

SMECO is Best in State for Outage Duration - Southern Maryland News

[SamSpade]

Without knowing a damned thing about it ----

I'd be willing to wager they were required to do this - get their electricity from green energy. I can't see any practical reason why a business would do this.

[ylexot]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

Without knowing a damned thing about it ----

I'd be willing to wager they were required to do this - get their electricity from green energy. I can't see any practical reason why a business would do this.

Yes, in case you didn't know, Maryland already has Cap and Trade...
Maryland SB 154 - Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Additional Emission Caps - Key Vote - Project Vote Smart

I believe SMECO used to (or probably still does until this is completed) buy "green" electricity from PA.

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

I can't see any practical reason why a business would do this.

There are no practical reasons to be seen. Not one.