Acres of hardwood trees in jeopardy over local solar project

[Blister]

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0219/acresofhardwoodtreesinjeopardyoverlocalsolarproject.html
Why can't panels be mounted on existing High Voltage transmission towers or on the "right of ways" that are already clear cut and maintained by the utilities? Md. has hundreds of miles of transmission lines, underground pipelines, and thousands of miles of divided highways with median strips. All of this land is unused, has to be kept cleared, and close to ties to the existing grid?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

WTF, going to cut down trees, to go green....

 

[littlelady]

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0219/acresofhardwoodtreesinjeopardyoverlocalsolarproject.html
Why can't panels be mounted on existing High Voltage transmission towers or on the "right of ways" that are already clear cut and maintained by the utilities? Md. has hundreds of miles of transmission lines, underground pipelines, and thousands of miles of divided highways with median strips. All of this land is unused, has to be kept cleared, and close to ties to the existing grid?

Absurd thinking. I am not surprised, but I am sad. I hope this plan doesn’t come to fruition.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0219/acresofhardwoodtreesinjeopardyoverlocalsolarproject.html
Why can't panels be mounted on existing High Voltage transmission towers or on the "right of ways" that are already clear cut and maintained by the utilities? Md. has hundreds of miles of transmission lines, underground pipelines, and thousands of miles of divided highways with median strips. All of this land is unused, has to be kept cleared, and close to ties to the existing grid?

You need to tie them into the grid at some point and 245kV lines aren't the place to do it.

Most commercial inverters are going to be 277/480, 3 phase and it make more economical sense to tie them all together and tie into the grid vs. having tons of tiny grids scattered around.

Also, while they may be clear cut, they may not always be cleared from the south (i.e casting shadows on the panels almost all day, which would produce a fraction of the power).