Hey. I live literally 30 seconds from this place, and know Bryce. Cool dude!
I do wonder why solar panels in fields aren't more common, as opposed to rooftop solar. It seems like such a burden doing all those one-off jobs aren't worth it compared to the ease of just putting more up in an easy to access location on the ground. Especially since most people aren't set up so they can go off grid with their panels in case the grid goes down.
Land is expensive in many places. Go somewhere it is very cheap, and you'll find fields of windmills and the occasional field full of solar panels.
In fact, Texas had a 350 megawatt install taken out by a hail storm earlier this year. It made the rounds in the news and even here on HN if memory serves. That's still not even close to the big projects though. Vista Sands in Wisconsin has a 1.3 gigawatt install planned that will cover nearly ten thousand acres.
The only reason residential rooftop solar became the industry it did was the massive subsidies handed out to consumers to make it financially viable. Without that, larger field installs and off-grid setups would be the bulk of what you hear about in most of the country.
> The only reason residential rooftop solar became the industry it did was the massive subsidies handed out to consumers to make it financially viable.
Savings per Watt can be a lot larger for residential though, as you save the all-in price of electricity (electricity price + transport fees + other fees + taxes) while solar farms only earn the wholesale price.
Yes, the return on rooftop solar is way better than commercial solar.
Firstly, is saving a cost (which you would pay with after-tax money.) So as a saving, not income, the return is tax free.
Secondly homes buy electricity at retail rates (thus rooftop is effectively earning at retail rates) whereas commercial sells at wholesale rates, which is likely a small multiple. (And of course, being commercial, that income is taxed.)
Yes, in high-cost places (like the US) subsidies were necessary to foster the industry and get enough demand to get prices down. In other places the math makes sense without subsidies.
Incidentally it's a LOT easier to do 1000 rooftop installs than 1 solar farm. There's no planning, utility agreements, large scale financing etc. You just install and move on. A small team (4 people) can easily do 2 houses a week. With only one qualified electrician needed.
The cost of land is a minor part of the cost of a PV field. As for wind, it uses only a small fraction of the land in which a wind field is placed, because the turbines have to be spaced so they don't interfere with each other.
rooftop solar in the summer is more efficient since it shaddows the roof, reducing cooling demand. in meant areas that is enough to pay for the extra install cost.
The big utility-scale solar plants tend to be on the ground in big fields. I think the preference for rooftop solar for individual houses comes mostly because it's convenient for suburban installations, as they don't usually want to give yard space and the panels would be in the shade anyways. Roofs aren't being used for anything useful, so that's where the panels go. In a rural setting there's less incentive to install on a roof, but you still might put them there anyways if that's where you get the best sun.
I suppose people might also be afraid of theft or vandalism if the panels are accessible to random passers-by without a ladder.
To add-on, utility scale solar generation is the majority of generation and has consistently outpaced small scale generation in growth.
Starting at 11,233 small scale out of 26,482 in 2014, ~42.5%, versus 73,406 out of 236,090 in 2023, ~31% [1].
So, despite a ~6.5x increase in small scale generation over 10 years, ~19% compounded annual growth, utility scale generation increased by ~10.66x, ~24% compounded annual growth.
In UK it’s extremely common. I think economic demand is a large factor though. Energy generation prices in US are significantly lower than over here. For example I am paid a variable export rate for solar energy from my home that varies between £0.0468 and £0.2621 per kWh. That’s significantly more than the gentleman in this article is receiving, like an order of magnitude more most of the time. Solar installers over here can’t keep up with the demand.
I do wonder why solar panels in fields aren't more common, as opposed to rooftop solar. It seems like such a burden doing all those one-off jobs aren't worth it compared to the ease of just putting more up in an easy to access location on the ground. Especially since most people aren't set up so they can go off grid with their panels in case the grid goes down.