Renewable resources supply about 7% of Florida’s total in-state electricity net generation; about three-fourths of that renewable generation comes from solar energy.
In 2022, Florida was third in the nation, after California and Texas, in total solar power generating capacity, and solar energy accounted for more than 5% of Florida’s total net generation. About four-fifths of the state’s solar generation came from utility-scale (1 megawatt or larger) facilities.
As we assess the current state of reality as it relates to renewable energy, it might be a good time to evaluate how the solar farms that Hurricane Milton and its many tornadoes impacted.
Duke Energy News reports that its Lake Placid Solar Farm took a significant hit from the storm.
The Lake Placid Solar Power Plant is located in Highlands County, Fla., and suffered damage during Hurricane Milton. The facility opened in December 2019 and is 45 megawatts, which is enough to power more than 12,000 homes at peak production.
At the present time, there is no official report on the extent of the damage, a timeline for repairs, or potential effects on the communities this solar farm serves.
However, as green energy activists continue to press for major solar farms and offshore wind projects (which have a significant impact on the local environments in which they are constructed), it would behoove everyone to keep an eye on the realities related to the repair of this particular facility.
Let’s take a look at how other solar farms did in other major storms. To begin with, in March of this year, a severe Texan hail storm damaged thousands of solar panels at a Fort Bend County farm in Texas.
The freak and severe hail storm hit the farm and its environs on March 16, causing massive property damage throughout the affected area, the outlet reported.“The hailstorm we experienced Saturday morning was unimaginable,” Nick Kaminski, a Ford Bend County resident, told the outlet. “We’ve never seen anything like it in our lifetime.” Kaminski’s own house suffered damage from the wind, causing the roof to come off, which was followed by hail, ABC 13 reported.
In May of this year, a storm severely damaged a new Indian “floating solar” project, which was offline only a few days after it began operations. I will simply note that the report also describes that local people were very unhappy with the project’s arrival in the first place.
What has been described as the world’s largest floating solar plant at Omkareshwar Dam was badly damaged when a storm hit in mid-April.Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation said the plant will be back in operation soon, but no firm date was announced, according to the Times of India.The damaged floating plant is one of three developed near the dam. The storm that damaged it had winds reported at 50 kph, which is just over 31 mph.Those winds are actually relatively tame. According to the National Weather Service%20causing%20major%20damage.), “extreme” wind threats feature winds approximately ranging from 74 mph to 95 mph. In fact, the NWS actually doesn’t consider winds under 39 mph to be of much threat, at all.#Nature & #Narmad #River ‘s fury disrupts one of the largest floating solar panel plant on Omkareshwar #Dam reservoir which was being opposed by Fisher people for causing disruption to their fishing rights.
To round out this report, an entire Nebraska solar complex was damaged by hail in 2023.
The so-called Community Solar Project – a 4.4 megawatt solar field comprised of 14,000 solar panels and located in Scottsbluff, Nebraska – is not currently operating and will remain offline until repairs are completed, the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) confirmed to Fox News Digital. NPPD, the state-owned public utility, and energy firm GenPro Energy Solutions developed the project in 2020.”The solar complex was destroyed by hail,” Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer said in an interview. “They’re assessing the damage, but it certainly looks destroyed to me.”
The Nebraska facility went back online in January of this year….about 6 months later. I will simply note that no cost for those repairs was provided in any report I could locate in my research.
The frequency of major storms and the costs associated with repair from them must be an essential part of any calculation when deciding if a new power facility is right for the region. It appears that green energy activists aren’t providing this data, but rather their visions of would should be based on their beliefs.
Theology is no way to power a civilization.
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