Installing Solar Panels On Land

Solar can be installed on marginal agriculture lands and provide a different source of revenue for the farm.

Installing solar panels on land.

For example for a 1 mw solar power plant installation the solar farm land requirements would be around 4 acres when using a crystalline technology. Solar can be installed with zero upfront capital cost through leasing. First ground mounted solar panel systems are very easy to place because they can be located on open land. If a property is suitable for ranching or farming the property owner can probably earn more money renting the land out for these uses.

Solar sites in the northeast mountain states or hilly regions can undergo civil engineering to make level ground for mounting. When we use thin film technology a 1mw plant will require an average of 4 5 to 5 acres of land. But when you place a solar array on the ground you have to build a sturdy roof like structure to hold the panels in place. In addition solar can provide several benefits to agricultural land managers that may offset capital costs of installing solar.

To be cost effective a solar panel installation needs a large parcel of contiguous land according to the university of arizona. This process involves getting your soil surveyed to make sure it can hold the system firmly in place digging large holes and paying extra for parts to build a suitable foundation for the panels. In other terms we can say that for each 1 kw of solar panels you need 100 sqft of an area on average. If you opt for a pole mount they will usually be installed more securely.

A solar panel installation is a relatively low value use for land. They don t require drilling into your roof and the bracings used in standard ground mount systems are lightweight and easy to remove. Certain solar markets like florida have naturally level land which makes installs simpler but flat terrain isn t always an option.