If and when they leave, they will drag there collective feet about placing the land back in the same condition as they found it. Protect yourself in a contract stating EVERYTHING will be removed at the end of the lease. No grazing will be allowed around the area of the solar farm. No hunting will be allowed.

Close to 20,000 acres of farming & grazing land in Wharton County has been leased or sold to solar farms. It absolutely turns my stomach when I see what this productive farm and ranch land has turned into. Please go find a solar farm in your area where massive amounts of land has been converted into solar all in the name green energy.

Let's go with your last response for starters. How much do you think these companies actually "rely on government"? The way you made it sound, they get money from government that goes directly to pay for all those things. How much do you think tax credits actually help? Like what % do you think these companies receive? Any examples or real data would be great.

To say these businesses don't take any risk with any of those things you listed, and these are just guaranteed things, is just silly.

Careful, you're about to be accused of saying things you never said....

Like most any kind of commercial development the only real opposition is from NIMBYism. Solar is benign compared to so many other things your neighbors could choose to do

I will respectfully disagree. Without assistance, solar is too expensive to be economically feasible. A company would have to charge extremely high prices for energy to recoup the investment and make a profit.

To compete, the numbers have to be in line with costs of competing energy sources.

Clearly, government wants this energy source and is paying extremely large benefits to encourage this industry. During one discussion with the project in our area, it was revealed that credits and subsidies worth up to $50,000 an acre are not unheard of. That's a lot of money for a 500 acre or 2000 acre farm.

Like all heavily subsidized government programs, the risk for producers in that program is far, far less, sometimes none at all, than for the risks people take in "normal" businesses.

JobSecurity said:

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Like most any kind of commercial development the only real opposition is from NIMBYism. Solar is benign compared to so many other things your neighbors could choose to do

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So you are in favor of bulldozing thousands of acres of trees, shrubs, and grass.

And replacing it with concrete, steel, and glass.

For the environment.



If only we could develop some type of machine that could pull carbon out of the air and store it, and release oxygen in the process. Maybe this machine could also have a heat absorbing surface that would cool surrounding areas. We should build lots and lots of those...

ttcexchange.com
After researching the federal solar tax credits for solar farms online, this website has the best explanation I've found.

hillcountryag86 said:

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I will respectfully disagree. Without assistance, solar is too expensive to be economically feasible. A company would have to charge extremely high prices for energy to recoup the investment and make a profit.

To compete, the numbers have to be in line with costs of competing energy sources.

Clearly, government wants this energy source and is paying extremely large benefits to encourage this industry. During one discussion with the project in our area, it was revealed that credits and subsidies worth up to $50,000 an acre are not unheard of. That's a lot of money for a 500 acre or 2000 acre farm.

Like all heavily subsidized government programs, the risk for producers in that program is far, far less, sometimes none at all, than for the risks people take in "normal" businesses.

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Just my thoughts…

The benefits and subsidies you're referring to are in the form of production tax credits (PTC) and low interest debt financing. I wouldn't necessarily call that heavily subsidized and in my opinion the correct way to handle the push for renewables or any emerging market or sector. It puts the onus on the developers, operators and banks to build and operate financially responsible projects. Loans get paid back and credits only come when operating.

I still believe we're skipping a step with natural gas in terms of "going green" but most new generation facilities being built or coming online in Texas will be run on natural gas which is good. This move is also being "subsidized" by Texas to further incentivize new projects to get built.

Everything is competing to get built and financed but I only care about the end user/consumer and how much they're paying at the end of the day. Needs to be cheap and available.

Hope this answered your question!

Thanks

Thank you. Will read.

How much per acre per year income? Are you eligible for property tax exemptions that you are currently getting?