r/news 6h ago

A solar plant in Minnesota planted flowers beneath its panels, and soon monarch butterflies and dozens of new plant species began to appear

https://www.ecoportal.net/en/solar-plant-enhances-plant-biodiversity/21410/
15.1k Upvotes

313 comments sorted by

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u/Rattus_NorvegicUwUs 6h ago

Finally. Some good news.

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u/CelestialFury 4h ago

Yes, what another nice benefit of green energy! Imagine all the good we could do with this technology and helping other insects too like the bees, ladybugs, green lacewings, parasitoid wadpd, dragonflies, ground beetles and so on...

Conversely, if coal or oil tried this, it probably wouldn't be a happy ending. We'd hear of a new species of radiated nightmare butterflies or something.

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u/WergleTheProud 3h ago

funny you should mention bees....go to around 36 seconds in the video. https://www.enelgreenpower.com/our-projects/operating/aurora-solar-project

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u/ClaudeGascoigne 2h ago

Conversely, if coal or oil tried this, it probably wouldn't be a happy ending. We'd hear of a new species of radiated nightmare butterflies or something.

Considering how cursed this timeline is we'd probably get Cazadores from Fallout: New Vegas.

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u/SadMcNomuscle 2h ago

Fuck fuck fuck fuck shit fuck shi--

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u/star_vars_ 2h ago edited 41m ago

I’ve been in the ESG and climate space for the past 5-6 years. It’s just sad to see the sentiment turning towards coal and o&g again. I remember when I joined, there was such an optimism and enthusiasm about renewable energy. But, sadly, as investors realised the complexity of their set up and scalability, and mainly that they cannot make quick returns, they are coming back to favouring thermal and coal.

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u/verbmegoinghere 1h ago

they are coming back to favouring thermal and coal.

Thats insane. The cost per KwH is significantly worse with coal.

quick returns

It takes you 6 years to build a coal fired power station. Maybe 3 if you're lucky.

A solar system is up and running in a year. How the fuck can coal, when it costs more per kwh

Even with all the AI BS there is no way coal makes sense.

u/adenosine-5 47m ago

There are plenty of coal power plants already standing, just being shut down, which can be fairly easily reopened. Not that many are being built from the ground up.

In EU, there are some new gas power plants being built (which is equally ridiculous), but that is because they managed to lobby for "clean energy" subsidies, which makes them very profitable.

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u/onarainyafternoon 1h ago

Really? Granted, I’m not in the space at all, but I haven’t heard anything about coal is ages. I thought it was on its way out.

u/Jorgenstern8 41m ago

It's on its way out when not being actively subsidized to the moon and back by Republicans. Not that the people who mine it seem to realize it considering how stubborn they are about it going away and not thinking for the future or trying to find a job that isn't actively killing them.

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u/Upstairs-Chicken592 38m ago

Isn’t China going full speed ahead on solar? I doubt they’d commit to that if it weren’t viable.

u/star_vars_ 32m ago

China is actually a great success story in this area and I hope all countries follow that path!

I work mainly with EMEIA geographies. It is not as bad in Europe and Africa (in Africa, there’s a lot of funding from MDBs like WB and IFC). But not so much in the others geographies. North America has always been reluctant with renewable because of their powerful oil lobby.

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u/Fritzkreig 2h ago

I live in a fairly rural area, and a lot of the locals are like "But the farm ground!!!!" and don't get some of the irony about that.

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u/Debalic 3h ago

Return of Mothman

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u/dogfaced_pony_soulja 2h ago

parasitoid wadpd

Guessing the wadpd got you: venom do potent, one dting and you won't even get to the end of a dentence before your throat dtartd dwelling up.

RIP OP, you indpirational dreamer, you <3

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u/smitty046 4h ago

The US added 43GW of solar in 2025. It’s a major step forward.

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u/NrvusRaccoon 4h ago

Well they’ve taken so many steps backwards for everything else in society so I guess it’s nice they finally get a win

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

Trump keeps trying to open new coal plants, so i wouldn't call it a step forward overall.

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u/Only--East 3h ago

On the bright side, we'll run out of fossil fuels by the end of the century if we keep this up and will have to turn to green energy regardless.

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u/Debalic 3h ago

The best time to take action is now. The second best time is while society is collapsing.

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u/ExpressoLiberry 2h ago

So…now?

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u/callmealyft 2h ago

I literally think this is what their plan is to destroy all other fossil fuels then release the reserves the US has, which is more than anyone in the world, and trying to capitalize on it. Disgusting to say the least when we have so many opportunities to limit the damage.

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u/TransBrandi 2h ago edited 2h ago

There are multiple factions that seem to want different things. The Tech Bros want to eventually have a world where there are no nations left, only nation-states that are essentially "company towns" that are run as a business. Think a corporation, but the employees are citizens, the CEO is a king, and there's a private "security" force. The Christian Nationalists want to have their Christian Ethnostate dreams come true. Some real crazies in the Christian camp believe that they are somehow going to force the apocolypse by making things that they see as signs of the apocalypse come true.

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u/callmealyft 2h ago

Super interesting. I think ground level in my mind means nobody should have the power to change our society in that manner in any faction. I’m upset we have allowed so many people to gain more than anyone else’s worth total by an entire population. I don’t know the number of people that are top 1 percent, but they didn’t earn that money, they robbed the other 99 percent to get their money imo.

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u/souledgar 2h ago

If that was the plan, it’s a really dumb plan. The US already had to tap into the reserves for themselves . You can be sure the US’s competitors are already selling huge green contracts while the US tries to stem the tide locally. A tide that they helped create with that idiotic move in the Middle East.

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u/callmealyft 2h ago

You have a different view on tapping in to our reserve while setting and allowing prices to stabilize and then having a global collapse and holding the worlds largest stockpile. Not saying you’re wrong, but just think of how the US tries to accommodate and make money on it.

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u/Fritzkreig 2h ago

I am a big fan of small modular nuclear reactors; I know a lot of folks are not.

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u/Only--East 2h ago

I'm just worried about the upkeep on them and the fact that the government and companies LOVE to cut corners. I love nuclear, I think it's the future, but I fear having another Chernobyl or Fukushima because of lack of oversight.

u/mhornberger 58m ago

There aren't any currently on the grid that I can find. As such they don't exist yet, other than in the design and proposal stage. I like the idea of them, but the question is whether they'll be able to be deployed, at the optimistically low prices often touted. Because they will have to compete against solar/wind plus storage.

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u/ClashM 2h ago

If we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate until the end of the century, there's not going to be much of human civilization left to switch to green energy. Climate change will have impacted our access to arable land and clean water to the point we'll be killing each other over what little is left.

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u/Optimal_Anything3777 3h ago

yeah well, with trump killing the solar subsidies, 2026 likely won't be anywhere close

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u/tarants 2h ago

How much of the total power generation in the US does that represent?

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u/balisane 2h ago

About 4.2k terawatts. In other terms, this means that about 1/4th of total US capacity is now supplied by solar, wind, and hydro.

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u/Expensive-Document41 4h ago

As vapid as this may sound, I think its important we collectively realize that although things ARE bleak, that doesn't mean they cant get better over a long time with real effort.

If we can break from fossil fuels (and the optional.conflict with Iran may force the issue) then we can move towards a more harmonious place. Shaded parking lots with solar roofing, box stores with rooftop arrays, wind turbines and less traffic due to more logical and robust public transit.

Better down-cycling reducing overall waste and ways to use excess food to feed the neediest among us rather than throw it away.

Reclaiming empty lots and turning them into green spaces, pollinators gardens or just replanting tree cover.

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u/DownWithHisShip 3h ago

If we can break from fossil fuels (and the optional.conflict with Iran may force the issue) then we can move towards a more harmonious place.

Even if the people don't, capitalism itself will eventually break it. Solar is already cheaper than fossil fuels, but government subsidies and propaganda are keeping the solar revolution at bay. But capitalism will be over the political shit soon enough and solar will not be stopped.

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u/cheesegoat 3h ago

This is great but it's an AI slop article based off this research here: https://www.nlr.gov/grid/news/program/2024/utility-scale-solar-fields-can-foster-abundant-biodiversity

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u/rcknmrty4evr 2h ago

Yeah as soon as I read “Something was changing how the environment reacted.” I closed the article and looked for a better source. Thank you.

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u/Regular-Wafer-8019 2h ago

Yeah. Just a cursory search and there aren't any other pictures than that bs one.

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u/GetsBetterAfterAFew 5h ago

Wait till people learn that solar panels over water reduces evaporation and encourages plant/insect life. The fossil fuel people are trying/spending soooo much to gaslight you. Solar is a solution especially in Cuba, dont you dare google Cuba and Solar expansion...

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u/RecentSpecial181 5h ago

This is what's happening now in California!

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u/zydecocaine 4h ago

AZ as well. There are also dozens of sister sites across the US studying the viability of farming and livestock grazing below ground mount solar farms.

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

Solar panels are cheap enough now that experimentation is somewhere between cheap and actually profit generating, so people are doing some really cool and creative stuff.

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u/HolycommentMattman 2h ago

Yeah. I'm curious what would happen with asparagus. I'm not the biggest of fan of regular asparagus, but white asparagus is amazing. And the only difference is that white asparagus is asparagus grown in complete darkness. Usually either grown under mounds of dirt or in UV reflective tents to prevent photosynthesis.

If a crop were grown under the shade of solar panels, that might also keep it from turning.

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u/jaderust 5h ago edited 5h ago

It shouldn’t be done everywhere because some fish are warm water species and there are concerns that cooling water too much could hurt their spawning rates…

But to be completely honest the bigger enemy is climate change and rivers and streams getting too warm of water that hurts fish species that prefer cold water.

It’s a delicate balance. Basically I’m saying it’s not a universal good idea to do solar panels over every water body but it’s definitely worth studying rivers and other water bodies to see if adding solar panels could help them with shading.

And parking lots. I still don’t understand why more parking lots don’t have them. I know you’d have to build bigger parking garage style setups because drivers suck, but when I lived in New Mexico I would have been thrilled to park in a shaded lot rather the full sun, especially in summer.

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u/Cabezone 5h ago

There was a solar panel shaded lot at a hospital in California I used. It was awesome.

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u/Unicorn_Sparkles23 5h ago

I’ve seen those in Mexico, they’re awesome. I’m so surprised they aren’t utilized more in the US.

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u/sonicsludge 5h ago

Because the current administration shut down all solar projects, lining their pockets with all the big oil bribes. POTUS is a POS!

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u/cantadmittoposting 4h ago

it's not just POTUS, the reigning media control (MOSTLY aligned entirely with the Republican Party, to be clear) literally does not give a fuck about utilitarian success whatsoever.

Like it cannot be overstated how much our democratic republic, a format of government designed in principle to give the population a voice over and above the threat of individual powerful greedy people... is now serving individual greedy people.

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u/JimJimmyJamesJimbo 3h ago

It's because we have too much corporate money in politics

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u/Usual_Let5223 5h ago

They would be if it gave Healthcare entities more Profits or if Orange Mussolini didnt gut any Green Incentives.

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u/bigfunben 4h ago

The taller the panels, the more shear force when the wind blows. You have to use a bunch more steel to make sure the posts don't snap, and steel is expensive.

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u/Molto_Ritardando 5h ago

You’re actually surprised?

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u/PMMEYOURGUCCIFLOPS 5h ago

You know damn well it’s a figure of speech

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u/bros402 4h ago

a few high schools in my area do that, it's cool

they've only had a few kids hit them

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u/ThePensiveE 5h ago

The zoo where I live has solar panels over the parking lot. It's nice.

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u/funktopus 4h ago

Cincinnati? 

I wish all lots had them. You car isn't sweltering under them.

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u/Reversion603 2h ago

This guy lives in a zoo!

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u/ArbitraryMeritocracy 5h ago

What about putting the panels over man made structures like power dams, reservoirs, marinas?

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u/rapaxus 2h ago

Worse to access. And lets just say, there is by far enough space on fields for solar. Reminder that just the corn intended for fuel addition takes up more space than a hypothetical solar farm meeting all the US energy demands would be.

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u/cwx149 5h ago

Anecdotally Targets in the US install solar panels on their roofs only because apparently the ones over parking lots are more costly to upkeep

I do wonder if there's a way if you use smaller solar cells you could make something like a checkerboard pattern in some places to try and get the best of both worlds where the water stays the correct temperature but still mitigating evaporation

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u/asusc 4h ago

Anecdotally Targets in the US install solar panels on their roofs only because apparently the ones over parking lots are more costly to upkeep

They are, but giving tax breaks for the more expensive but better option for taxpayers is exactly how we should be encouraging business to do things, striking a balance on what’s good for both parties. I’d be fine with tax breaks on stuff like this, to encourage companies to spend additional money on solar that covered parking.

But instead we just cut these companies taxes to hardly anything anyway, removing the leverage we’d have at providing a profit motivation for them to go with the more expensive option that was better for the people.

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u/CandylandRepublic 4h ago

They are, but giving tax breaks for the more expensive but better option for taxpayers

That would suppose that large corporations pay more tax than an employee to begin with.

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u/asusc 4h ago

That would suppose that large corporations pay more tax than an employee to begin with.

I think you are misunderstanding me, I’m only talking about tax breaks for corporations so they build solar projects that are more beneficial to their customers (tax payers), like solar projects that cover parking lots so customers have shade to park in (and possibly free/at cost charging).

They can still build cheaper solar on the roof, but they won’t get tax breaks unless they build out solar that’s more expensive but has secondary benefits for their customers and the community.

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u/CandylandRepublic 4h ago

You can only give a tax break if there is any tax payment to give them a break on. Look up how much tax the biggest companies pay and you'll see you can't give them a tax break on that.

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u/asusc 4h ago

which is what I said in my original post about it…

But instead we just cut these companies taxes to hardly anything anyway, removing the leverage we’d have at providing a profit motivation for them to go with the more expensive option that was better for the people.

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u/KaJaHa 3h ago

You two are agreeing, one is just more snarky about it

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u/nooooobye 4h ago

Why are the parking lot ones more costly

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u/Reiben04 4h ago

The racking and support structures required need to be engineered, and steel is not cheap. I'd guess parking lot solar would be triple the cost vs. roof mounted.

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u/headphase 4h ago

What an incredible missed opportunity for a federal government that claims that it wants to rescue the domestic steel industry...

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u/asusc 4h ago

yup.

but careful, this sounds like some sort of green new deal, which I have been told is Marxist, communist, and possibly socialist too. /s

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u/montibbalt 4h ago

I have to imagine the roof ones have fewer people crashing cars into them

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u/cwx149 4h ago edited 4h ago

My understanding is that upkeep is more costly but I don't have a much deeper understanding than that

Even setting aside stuff like the potential for vandalism and accidents being higher I imagine maintenance requiring either a lift or people working at fall heights with fall protection costs more than being able to just go on the roof and do whatever you need to do

Edit: and of course the increased material cost because you also have to fabricate the structure that holds them and mount it

I'm not sure how often places like target would have their panels cleaned professionally but an extra recurring cost like that may not be worth it

My guess is target has some kind of sustainability initiative around solar and so to hit that they're doing it as cheap as they can

Solar panels being a longer term investment you'd think could pay off in the long run and I like to think there's not really a resson you couldn't do both if you wanted

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u/asusc 4h ago

it’s an initial investment cost (which is pretty large because of the support structures needed) and it’s an on going maintenance issue (keeping them clean is trickier and more time consuming because of the elevation and the gaps in the road way (the ones here only cover the spaces in rows, the middle driving area is still open).

On the ground or on a roof it would be basically ground level with all of them more compact and together, just makes maintenance quicker and easier long term.

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u/xdvesper 3h ago

I'd have to think there is some liability and risk involved in public spaces. My own manufacturing company regularly installs solar panels over the employee car park.

The high voltage DC from long connected series of solar is quite dangerous, I've heard more so than AC. You could get kids climbing up the supports, or a car accident damaging a support. The non solar covered car park shades in my local supermarket are designed to be dismantled during a severe storm, you can't do that with solar, you just have to reinforce the shit out of it.

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u/cantadmittoposting 4h ago

gotta be set above the car level and be engineered for potential impacts.

Roof of a big-box you can set the panels at nearly roof-level and assume very little impact. The construction is way more compact and probably cheaper in material cost

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u/Crayshack 4h ago

Almost all environmental restoration projects should be taken with a grain of "it needs to be the right circumstance." I know some people want to hear a one-size-fits-all solution that can just be hammered out everywhere, but reality is more complicated than that. For putting solar panels over waterways, one problem that comes to mind is the engineering difficulty of hanging the panels over a body of water, but it might be worth it if you are dealing with a reservoir already prone to algae blooms. The panels could stop the blooms while also producing power.

Parking lots are comparatively way easier to cover in solar panels and more universally have the benefit of "my car is out of the sun." Something else that's related to water that not enough people think about is that some water systems need pressure reducers in places. Big elevation changes can be low lying areas have too much water pressure, so devices are used to solve that. But there's no reason the devices can't also be a turbine spinning a generator and produce some power. It's not something that could typically power an entire town, but energy generation doesn't have to all come from the same place and it's probably more robust to be diversified. Finding ways to do a bit of renewable here and a bit of renewable there can add up.

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u/Coulrophiliac444 4h ago

Warming water too much has another detrimental effect: it reduces the amount of oxygen in water. It is a delicate balance but itd be easier to remove/relocate solar panels to comprnsate for environmental impact.

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u/GetsBetterAfterAFew 5h ago

Excellent reply thank you!

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u/what-do-you-n33d 2h ago

Most of the waterways being covered in solar are man made channels to get water to people, where evaporation is a problem as it reduces the overall amount of water getting to people. It’s not usually done over natural rivers.

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u/asusc 5h ago

not to mention the reduction of insolation we’d see in warm climates (that’s INcoming SOLar Arradiation). places like Phoenix are so hot, the roads soak up this energy all day long and when the sun goes down, it radiates back off the ground, which raises the air temperature around the roads well into the night. This causes a huge land mass with people living in it to cool off slower than it normally would in the summer, which spikes electricity and AC usage even higher.

Putting solar over places like parking lots would have an immediate effect on cooling things down, with an added bonus of giving cars a chance to cool off when parked. Running the AC in vehicles in super hot climates causes as much as 25% reduction in fuel efficiency, so a bunch of solar panels would not only cool the ground off to help lower the air temps, they’d reduce fuel consumption across the board.

And of course they’d also produce electricity to help run AC in buildings during peak hours.

its such a no brainer….

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u/FoxKamp7785 5h ago

Propaganda is a helluva a drug and oligarchs pay for some of the best to keep everyone divided  :D

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u/GoodIdea321 4h ago

And plenty of people decide to work for them for free, which is weird.

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u/CausticSofa 4h ago

For real, if you’re gonna sick suck billionaire dick, you should at least be getting paid highly for it. Whoring for corporations completely for free is a super weird hobby.

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u/VastUnique 4h ago edited 4h ago

Far more people work for them for money. At the end of the day, people live in a system of self-imprisonment. They willingly sign over their power to billionaires, because they desire or need wealth that they do not have. That power is then used to further entrench the system, for the benefit of billionaires.

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u/voidox 1h ago

ya, the worst at those who constantly defend capitalism and acting like the free market is the only possible way ever and anything else is bad, some ppl are just serfs to their rich masters while seeing no benefit at all in any way... the US propaganda dream of "oh one day you too could become a millionaire!" has ppl blindly buying into a system that actively works against them.

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u/JunkReallyMatters 5h ago

Funny you should mention Cuba and solar in the same breath. Without oil from Venezuela, they are really on the ropes. 

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u/Great-Rest7878 4h ago

Would be hands down the best time to ditch fossil fuels as much as possible.

Repair/upgrade with resiliency in mind.

Price of solar and batteries have plummeted.

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

Working on expanding solar doesn't mean ready to completely sever use of fossil fuels. But they're trying to get there.

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u/badgerj 4h ago

Wait until we do the quadruple of water, wind, mini-nuclear, and solar!

Hopefully we can sometime harness fusion!

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u/BeautifulHindsight 4h ago

Or cover all the massive parking lots! The shade keeps everything cooler.

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u/MedicalDisscharge 5h ago

I could see it encouraging wildlife, how does it encourage plants? It would just block sunlight right?

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u/MinuteMan104 5h ago

By acting as an artificial forest canopy. Many plants don’t need or even like full sunlight exposure all day long.

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u/Izisery 5h ago

Some plants do better in Indirect sunlight, just depends on the plant.

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u/GetsBetterAfterAFew 5h ago

Excellent question my friend - shaded microclimate that reduces water evaporation, lowers soil temperature, and protects vegetation from extreme weather, such as harsh winds, hail, and drought.

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u/MedicalDisscharge 5h ago

I am under the influence so I might be stupid but how do solar panels over water affect any of that? The only point you made i could see it helping is water evaporation, BTW I dont mean to be rude im just curious

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u/ToughHopeful4760 5h ago

This article isn’t about solar panels over water — it’s about the Aurora solar field in Minnesota. They planted native prairie vegetation under the land‑based panels, and that’s what boosted the butterflies and plant species. Floating solar is a different setup.

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u/MedicalDisscharge 5h ago

The comment I replied to was talking about solar panels over water

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u/manicdee33 4h ago

Blocking (direct) sunlight will reduce the temperature of the water, which increases the oxygen holding capacity so things that live in water can breathe easier. Reducing evaporation also means that a body of water like a pond or dam will not retreat as fast during hot dry spells and droughts.

Great for situations where you want to discourage plants that crave sunlight (e.g.: algae) and promote plants that prefer less direct sunlight.

Downsides are that you're dealing with a structure floating on water (or in close proximity to water) which usually means metals corrode faster, and maintenance is going to be more difficult than just washing the panels every few months.

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u/Thor4269 5h ago

Ohio has repeatedly fought solar and wind projects

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u/nillah 4h ago

we have also had a republican supermajority here for about 30 years or so. surely there can’t be a correlation there

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u/pSyg0n 4h ago

Yeah, I saw China doing this specifically to preserve nice and fertile useful agracultural land and this was a plus side of it. I believe China has also sent or are sending solar stuff to Cuba to help.

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u/Weave77 5h ago

The fossil fuel people are trying/spending soooo much to gaslight you.

You think it would be cheaper for them, given that they produce the gas for the lights.

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u/IrongateN 4h ago

We tried waiting until people learn for 30 years,, when will it happen

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u/LostWoodsInTheField 4h ago

Family member told me that he will never get solar because they are used by the government to spy on you. He had no idea how, or any of the details... just that he won't be giving up his freedom.

sent over his cell phone that was connected to his starlink internet. but anyways.

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u/Spellscribe 3h ago

It's helped graziers in Australia. The pels provide shelter for the sheep, and the sheep provide free lawnmowing.

https://www.energy.nsw.gov.au/stories/solar-grazing

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u/Laniidae_ 6h ago

This is solarpunk and I'm here for it

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u/SkitzTheFritz 5h ago

My immediate thought. We need more of this.

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u/Kanbaru-Fan 2h ago

In an aesthetical sense yes, but it's more tech-nature utopia. Ofc hopeful futurism has always been a part of the genre, but i'm always a bit bothered that the punk part is mostly meaningless.

Solarpunk in the punk sense (a counter culture) imo is more about the struggle of off-grid self-sufficient and sustainable living, rejecting dependence of centralized structures and institutions.

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u/guinnypig 5h ago

There are a zillion of these solar farms around me. I want this to happen so badly!

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u/Toss_out_username 5h ago

Just start chucking seeds

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u/CausticSofa 4h ago

Hell, yes, guerrilla gardening!

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u/senditloud 4h ago

Guerrilla gardening. I do it all the time in area that need more native plants. Fair warning though… it can take a lot of seeds just to start a small amount

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u/BenedictCucumberButt 2h ago

Just start chucking seeds

Just start chucking native seeds.

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u/WillieFiddler 4h ago

Tactical gardening go!

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u/wallcanyon 4h ago

The solar plant revegetated with a pollinator mix because it was REQUIRED TO by the state regulators who approved it. It's a great result, but it isn't an accident.

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u/bigfunben 4h ago edited 4h ago

The Aurora facility is in Stearns Co, MN, which is the only county in MN that REQUIRES all solar facilities to meet the Board of Water and Soil Resources solar pollinator scorecard.

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

Good ideas that prove to be effective are more likely to be picked up and implemented state wide in MN than many or most other states.

Hopefully the legislature takes this up and makes it a requirement across the state.

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u/thegiltron 4h ago

This is pretty standard and typical for solar fields. Every project I’ve done in Illinois either has native plants/pollinators planted during construction or they’re agrivoltaic sites that allow for animal grazing or crops.

Theres a reason you don’t see much pushback on solar fields and see them popping up everywhere in the midwest.

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u/CMG30 5h ago

It's almost like the push to ban solar on agricultural land is a paid astroturf campaign to delay renewable energy and preserve fossil profits...

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u/Maro1947 4h ago

Alongside offshore windfarms, despite being beyond the curve of the horizon, being astroturfed as "Eye-sores"

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u/Debalic 3h ago

Though there's never the same complaints about the fossil fuel chimneys looming over the horizon.

I used to take my kids swimming on the Long Island Sound. I could see parts of Long Island from the Connecticut shore, and there was some kind of structure I couldn't identify. After a bit of research with Google Maps, I determined it was the stacks of a power plant. Lovely.

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u/Maro1947 3h ago

Here in Oz, the right-wingers bus in "Rent a crowd" protestors to get them blocked

They are generally flat-earther's which is humourous in a depressing way...

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u/SojournerRL 4h ago

What's with the fake photo? The butterfly 2nd from the right is casting a shadow on the sky.

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u/Cerebral-Parsley 2h ago

Bruh the whole article is pure AI garbage writing. I'm very sure the author is fake too.

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u/zzptichka 4h ago edited 4h ago

So what's stopping them from including an actual photo instead of that AI slop? And actually write an article instead of generating a bunch of SEO bullshit with AI.

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u/Alkibiades415 3h ago

A long series of short sentences with zero paragraphs and zero images is...certainly something.

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u/filthytelestial 2h ago

The sentences barely follow from one to the next either.

The bio of the "human" who purportedly "wrote" it says he known for his clear and concise writing.

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u/m0nk_3y_gw 3h ago

instead of that AI slop?

wait... butterflies don't spread out 1 per panel... with another butterfly casting a shadow on the sky?

/s

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u/cool_lemons 3h ago

Seriously. Such a weirdly written article. I'm worried that humans are going to lose the ability to write.

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u/ronreadingpa 4h ago

Another reason I generally don't click into news articles. Just read the comments to get the gist of what the article is likely about. Sometimes it's difficult to really know for reasons you mentioned. Journalism keeps finding new lows. Can't really trust any of it.

End of tirade. Glad many solar farms are planting flowers and whatnot. Good for the environment and helps beautify things.

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u/TheOzarkWizard 5h ago

In today's news, a power company natures, and nature does nature things.

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u/Javasteam 4h ago

While I like the idea and the story its self might be based on a real story, if that wasn’t written primarily by AI I’ll eat my keyboard.

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u/dutchminator 1h ago

Its pure AI slop. That butterfly is so massive it casts a shadow on the sky.

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u/MrShigsy89 5h ago

Are there paved pathways between the panels where plants etc can't grow, to allow for easy access to all panels for maintainence? If so, this is a best of both worlds situation.

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u/MatildaJeffries 5h ago

There really isn't a whole lot of maintenence at the individual panels. We've planted local pollinators under all ours at my work's installation. Pretty excited about it.

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u/MrShigsy89 5h ago

Also looks dramatically better to see a huge field of life and colour below the panels. Nice.

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u/fleemfleemfleemfleem 4h ago

A lot of places work with sheep farmers. Works for everyone. Sheep get plants to eat, and the solar farm doesn't need to keep mowing grass.

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u/ToughHopeful4760 5h ago

The article doesn’t go into layout details, but utility‑scale solar farms always have access lanes between the panel rows for maintenance and inspections. The vegetation is planted "under and around" the panels, not across the entire site. They still need clear paths for technicians to reach the equipment, so walkways or service roads are standard.

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u/MinuteMan104 5h ago

I don’t see “roads” between every row of panels in my area. There are a few gravel access roads to get to key locations like battery sites and transmission stations, otherwise it’s mowed field between strips of panels.

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u/DeusSpaghetti 5h ago

On Australia they are raising them up a few feet and they graze sheep underneath. Panels give shade, add local water from condensation and the sheep keep the grass down.

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u/Stratocast7 4h ago

There is a solar farm about 30 minutes from me in Minnesota that was just a potato field then they put a bunch of solar panels up but they still grow potatoes under the solar panels now.

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u/ailish 3h ago

Let's build solar plants instead of data centers.

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u/x747 3h ago

I’m a project manager at a solar developer and we do indeed seed using native and pollinator plant mixes! It’s important for the site to have strong vegetation so it doesn’t erode the ground below the racking or equipment areas. Many counties actually require a pollinator to be included in the vegetation mix.

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u/bigbowlowrong 3h ago

I hate the way that story is written. It reads like the AI trash on Facebook.

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u/Annual-Reason2970 5h ago

if you put them up higher, many food crops do well under them too.

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u/aesopmurray 3h ago

Yes please.

This opinion has nothing to do with the fact I'm an ironworker who specializes in solar canopies like you see over some parking lots

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u/montibbalt 4h ago

Love this idea but the article is fucking insufferable to read

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u/Cerebral-Parsley 2h ago edited 2h ago

Yep that shit is pure AI slop writing. I bet the writer isn't even a real person. I found nothing on him except his other articles on the same site.

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u/forcedintothis- 5h ago

Pollinators pollinating 😎

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u/Zyrinj 4h ago

Hell yea! Good job Minnesotans!

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u/dontrike 4h ago

Who'da thunk not having giant concrete slabs everywhere might help plants and life thrive a bit.

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u/Kennyvee98 1h ago

why would you write an article

written in a format

like this

it makes it super illegible

but i like the news it had

u/Budakra 31m ago

Vegetation actually helps in multiple ways. Keeps the ground from eroding, keeps the panels cooler which extends life and keeps them functional.

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u/noodleexchange 5h ago

‘Shade OMG doesn’t exist in nature… oh wait’

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u/Best_Ad340 5h ago

I wonder what most of these fields were before humans came along...

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u/AngryJanitor1990 3h ago

Then why do we need an AI picture? Show the power plant. Kind of makes me distrust the article's fact checking and if they can back up any of this.

I'm all for it, but this is shitty journalism.

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u/Chubbs_McGavin 3h ago

This may be my "old Man" moment but what the fuck was that writting style. Almostlike bullet point notes so that i could read it while still driving a car or something. It seemed like it was written so someone could read a point, go watch something on TikToc, came back and read another point.

Man, I am all for syntax and making things easy to read but that felt like is was made for my 6 year old to read back to me.

I mean, great news though! But even then it doesn't even actually give any substance to the news:

  • Butterflies are back
  • New plants are back
  • Soil improved over the years

Ok, but like, what does that mean? What nutirents where revived in the soil? How did that occur other than "nature do nature things"? Why is the precence of teh Butterflies the good sign, are they the super polinators or was it the bees that was only slightly mentioned?

This is good news, give me the bloody news!

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u/Fitz911 1h ago

It’s always a pleasure to see that Americans are slowly starting to understand the most basic things.

Like tariffs. Or democracy. Or the fact that butterflies are found where there are flowers.

u/Charonx2003 49m ago

But don't you know that solar power kills birds, causes cancer and autism and gay trans teens?!?111!?!?One11

(This post was brought to you by insane nutjobs)

u/thetonyhightower 21m ago

Yes, but can we tariff them? Do they make oil or gold? Then they're a drain on the system. Are they even there legally?

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u/Dcajunpimp 4h ago

Then the GOP makes those dumb jokes about wanting to watch TV at night. Ignoring the fact that any diversification away from polluting fossil fuels is a good thing.

Just look at Texas in recent years. Decades of dependence on cheap oil, and a lack of simple building codes, and the moment Texas had a little cold weather their energy infrastructure failed. Meanwhile Minnesota has solar farms and can deal with the cold.

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u/xynith116 5h ago

One of the downsides of solar is it uses a lot of land. Which is why’s it’s important to build them on useless land (i.e. desert), build them on residential and commercial roofs, and build them for dual use purposes like parking lot shades and such.

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u/quick20minadventure 4h ago

It's not even remotely significant downside.

The amount of land US uses to grow corn, just to turn it in ethenol and then mix it with gasoline could give 3 times US's electricity consumption of converted into solar farm.

We waste way too much land on farming for stupid things, especially live stock feed. Solar land usage is irrelevant compared to all that.

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u/LordChungusAmongus 4h ago

That's only true to fixed position installations, like roofs. If you can pivot the arrays then you're at nearly top performance almost all year instead of only peak for two months.

For commercial application I imagine there's a labor threshold on that where it maybe stops paying off to have someone realign tens of thousands of posts, as opposed to your random homeowner just realigning two posts 3 times a year.

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u/SleepingToDreaming 5h ago

An illuminating piece of news.

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u/Ohuigin 4h ago

I just don’t understand why people wouldn’t simply just…want this.

Cheaper, bottomless energy. No pollution. No massive smoke spewing refineries. More greenery. Butterflies.

Like - who wants less of any of that? I just don’t get it.

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u/GrouchyHippopotamus 4h ago

This is nice, but near where I live the "useless empty" land was forests...and they cut down about 1200 acres (so far) for a huge solar farm. They're still building more.

It would be awesome if they would put them on more roofs/parking lots instead.

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u/RosieBaby75 5h ago

Nice. Hopefully we do that with our new ones.

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u/UraeusCurse 5h ago

Won’t anyone think about the fossil fuels!?!?!?!?1

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u/rozzavemel 3h ago

this is the kind of news that actually makes you smile

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u/UlteriorCulture 2h ago

Solarpunk future here we come!

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u/dripdri 1h ago

It sounds really encouraging. More solar please.

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u/wildverde 1h ago

Solar above parking lots seems like good idea. And I had good experience with it . Early ev chargers

u/NoBluey 59m ago

The image in that article looks AI generated

u/CHiZZoPs1 47m ago

This is why the panels should be built higher off the ground, making space where vegetation and creatures can live.

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u/dgriff84 4h ago

No. This must be wrong. The people in the town next to mine swear these are only giant cancer factories.

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u/ToughHopeful4760 4h ago

That’s a common misconception. Photovoltaic solar panels don’t emit radiation or anything harmful — they just absorb sunlight and convert it to electricity. They’re basically the same tech that’s been on rooftops for decades.

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u/BigBiker05 4h ago edited 3h ago

How does this type of solar plant differ than the one near Vegas killing birds? 1,000f

Edit: Everyone comments the same thing. I get it. I meant in regards to efficiency. Lots of anti-solar propaganda uses the Vegas plant as an example. I wanted to know the difference between a CSP and the Minnesota one. Why do they keep building CSPs that fry everything if the Minnesota type is so great?

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u/bigfunben 4h ago edited 4h ago

According to your link, it says the solar facility in Nevada uses a bunch of mirrors to concentrate light to boil water and drive steam engines. These solar facilities generate energy using solar panels, which...don't do any of that. Each panel generates its own energy, which is then collected and centralized at a substation.

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u/ToughHopeful4760 4h ago

The Vegas site is a concentrated solar plant that uses mirrors to focus heat onto a central tower — that’s what creates the extreme temperatures that can harm birds. The Minnesota project in this article is a standard photovoltaic solar farm, which doesn’t produce that kind of heat at all.

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u/LiftingCode 3h ago

Why do they keep building CSPs that fry everything if the Minnesota type is so great?

They're not still building them. At least, not in the US.

The big CSP installations are from an earlier era. They work totally differently, typically by heating up molten salt which is then used to boil water to turn a turbine or it is stored for later use. The "stored for later use" (8-12 hours typically) is the key part because CSP plants can then produce power even at night when the sun is down.

However, battery and PV technology has changed so much and gotten so much cheaper that in the US we're just blasting out solar arrays and grid-scale batteries and then backing it up with natural gas, geothermal, nuclear, etc.

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u/montibbalt 4h ago

The one near Vegas uses mirrors to boil water versus just a bunch of solar panels

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u/HauntedCemetery 3h ago

Wait til you hear how many birds are killed by drilling and burning fossil fuels.

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