One of the investments last year we made was in a farm-house with around 13 acres of land. Sole purpose was to build our future home but then I realized that even if we keep 4 acres of land for home and other amenities, we can easily use 9 acres of land for some other purpose. First thought was to set up a solar farm as the land is perfect flat and exposure to sun is great, so I started gathering some information, end result of this effort was disappointing but thought of sharing here. Hope this experience will not stop me in looking for other options to GO GREEN!!

Here are few myths and facts:

1.            Solar plants on agriculture land: One would think that land zoned as agriculture can be used for commercial solar plants. This is a big no. Check with your township first and then also study state and federal laws. It seems like different states have different stand on this issue. You will only be able to set up plant to cater need of your home on that land.

 2.            Setup solar plant for your home and sell unused energy to your energy distributor: Generally when you talk to sales people, they will make these statements. But this is not true. First of all if you are setting up solar panels on your roof, chances are hardly it will serve probably not more than 25% of your total consumption of electric power. So there is certainly not enough power, but let us say you get approval to set up solar panels for commercial purpose and have extra energy available, you are totally dependent on your energy distributor e.g. PECO to buy this extra power and sell to other clients but this option might be available today, after two years PECO can say no to you and then you have no way to sell this energy. Only way you can sell energy would be to find out a private consumer like industrial plant, mall etc. That is the reason why more solar panels are sold to business offices and malls.

3.            Setting up solar farm will pay for itself in 10 years: It depends upon in which state you are setting up the solar plant. Some states have very aggressive grants and energy rates are very high, e.g. in the state of NJ, but in certain states if grants are lower and or if the energy prices are not that high then this 10 years rule does not apply.

4.            I also found that if you are setting up the solar panels on ground vs roof then the price goes up, which affects the ROI.

5.            None of the vendors talk about maintenance cost, basically solar panels have glass sheet, and they are more effective if they are being kept clean, how many times in a year do we need to clean them and what is the expense involved, also if you live in the area like ours (North East) where snow hits hard from December until February cleaning snow and ice is extra expense.

Some useful links:

http://www.dsireusa.org/

http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/recovery/Pages/1603.aspx

Click to access NCSL_Property_Tax_Financing_Legisbrief.pdf