How Does a Solar Farm Work?

What is a solar farm? A solar panel farm is a concentration of solar arrays on land that provides an alternative to using electric power from the local power grid. The panels receive direct sunlight, which forms an energy field that is then converted to usable electricity.

Table of Contents

The Different Types of Solar Farms

Advantages of Solar Farm Projects

Are You Ready To Switch To Clean Energy?

 

The Different Types of Solar Farms

How does a solar farm work? To understand how a solar farm works, you must first understand what solar power is and how solar energy works. Solar power is one of the fastest-growing and most affordable methods of generating electricity. Over three million solar power installations have been installed in the United States, with a million of those in only the past two years. The popularity of this clean energy source continues to increase.

With a solar power system, energy from sunlight is harvested and converted to usable electricity. It does this by collecting photons from the sun on photovoltaic cells that create an energy field, which then flows to an inverter where it is transformed from DC to AC power. AC power, or alternating current power, is the kind of electricity that powers anything in your house.

A solar farm is the same principle, but larger. Instead of just one roof with a dozen or more panels, it is a wide piece of land with many more panels collecting sunlight. The electricity collected from solar farms can power whole communities, not just houses.

Utility-Scale Solar Farm

Utility-scale farms are solar farms that are large enough to replace the power utility in a large area. These large-scale solar farms contain up to hundreds of thousands of solar panels and can power thousands of homes. Utility-scale solar farms have much larger flexibility for location than smaller farms. Large, flat areas that are close to transmission lines and get lots of sunlight are optimal for utility solar farms.

Homeowners, businesses, non-profits, and other organizations, can then buy or lease portions of the solar panel arrays to utilize the solar electricity. Smaller, community solar farms can be built in areas of the electric grid that may be most beneficial to those local areas.

Community Solar Farm

A community solar farm is a smaller farm that can help power smaller communities. While utility-scale solar panel farms are typically larger and investor-owned, a community solar farm may be managed by smaller, local utilities, which are either cooperatives or municipal-run utilities that take care of its maintenance.

With community solar farms, people in the local neighborhoods can subscribe to the solar farm utility while remaining on the power grid and can save money by using electricity that may be less expensive than traditional utilities. People who join the community solar farm agreements can observe their electrical bills adjusted, as they receive solar energy to supplement their energy usage from the power grid.

Advantages of Solar Farm Projects

There are numerous advantages of solar projects from the ability to remain powered even when the local power grid goes down to large groups of people in a community benefiting by tapping into power in areas that may be under-served by the power companies.

Less Likely To Lose Power In Case the Electric Grid Goes Down

One of the advantages of any solar panel system is that when the power goes out for structures connected to the power grid, the energy from solar panels still flows to structures connected to a solar panel system. Especially during the day when the sun is shining on panels, if the power grid goes down, anyone connected to a solar panel system or solar farm will have uninterrupted power.

Even when the power goes out from a storm, when the clouds are blocking the sun, or at night, if the solar panel system is connected to a battery backup system, the electricity can still flow and energize buildings that normally would have been without power when the local utilities lose power.

Solar Energy Generation for a Large Group of People

A solar farm benefits a wider group of people compared to a solar panel system on just one house. A whole community can subscribe to solar power by entering into a solar land lease agreement to benefit from arrays of solar power somewhere in the local area. This creates a community solar marketplace where individual households can hook up to the solar farm to access the solar energy produced at the farm.

Community solar from solar farms can benefit different types of people. Households can take advantage of a solar farm when they don’t have adequate roof space or sufficient sunlight on their roof. Others may not be able to afford a solar panel system on their houses or have the capability to install a solar panel system because they are low-income or renting. Aside from such consumers, the whole community can take advantage of local renewable energy.

Requires Hundreds of Acres of Land, But Could Actually Improve It

Building a solar panel farm can take unimproved land or a farm under construction and turn it into something usable that could result in improved economics for a whole community. A community solar marketplace could provide power for a community at competitive prices compared to the grid. The solar panel cost could be recouped, and it would eventually pay for itself.

Federal government initiatives are also helping to increase the number of community solar farms around the country and help lower solar farm costs. This could utilize unused or underused land while allowing local areas to make use of clean renewable power. The programs help to create equitable access to solar farms, including to disadvantaged communities, to which 40% of the overall benefits must flow. This ensures equal distribution of the benefits of clean energy.

Are You Ready To Switch To Clean Energy?

What is the purpose of a solar farm? A solar farm is a solar project that provides solar energy to a wide range of subscribers from small communities to utility-scale farms being able to replace the local power utilities, powering much larger areas of up to thousands of buildings.

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