Solar Farms on Old Mine Sites Shining Examples of Smart Land Use

October 3rd, 2011 by Glenn Meyers

UK solar plant was constructed on old tine mine site

When Lightsource Energy and Solar Century opted to develop a large solar farm on a closed tine mine site in the UK they were laying a solid footprint for responsible land use and stewardship.

As Derry Newman, Solarcentury’s CEO, stated: “To see a tin mine diversify into producing 21st century clean solar energy, provides an optimistic glimpse of where we’re now heading for our energy production. Wheal Jane’s solar farm demonstrates that solar technology can contribute to our clean energy future, and quickly.”

Solar farms of this scale are starting to have more of a featured position in the renewable energy mix of this country. Solarcentury designed and constructed this site, powering over 400 homes, in less than two months.

“Solar is not to be underestimated; it is the fastest growing energy technology in the world, simply because it is clean, reliable and a readily available alternative to fossil fuels,” added Newman.

In Germany, such news is even more impressive. According to Renewable Energy World, Saferay’s 78-MW plant on former open-pit mining lands near Senftenberg in eastern Germany includes 330,000 crystalline solar modules and 62 central inverter stations. Equally impressive, the plant was constructed in three months.

Innovative and responsible land is now part of the formula for successful renewable energy sites. “As large-scale solar plants become more common, developers will need to find ways to balance conservation and land-use issues with generating capacity,” writes TreeHugger.com.

Covering a 7.2acre plot in Cornwall the 1.4MW plant represents a significant undertaking for a country not familiar with large solar projects.

It is reasonable to expect more such news in the coming years concerning responsible land management practices.

Photo: Solar Century

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Tags: land stewardship with renewable energy, Lightsource Energy, reusing old land for renewable energy, Saferay, Solar Century, solar farms on old mine sites, Solar in Germany, Solar in UK

About the Author

Glenn Meyers is a writer, producer, and director. Meyers was editor and site director of Green Building Elements, a contributing writer for CleanTechnica, and is founder of Green Streets MediaTrain, a communications connection and eLearning hub. As an independent producer, he's been involved in the development, production and distribution of television and distance learning programs for both the education industry and corporate sector. He also is an avid gardener and loves sustainable innovation.

http://www.intelligentenergysolutions.com/ Solar Panels Farms

As usual Germany leads the way, but it is encouraging to see similar schemes adopted here. It’s quite an interesting and useful adoption of otherwise unusable space and area. I’m not sure why they are quite spaced apart like that either. Unless they are elevated and will create shadows on the next row, ergo the space.
Anonymous

(Line 2 – “tine”)

Wonder why they spaced the panels so far apart? Seems like wasted space.

Another advantage to reusing sites like this is that they probably already had transmission lines run to the site. Now the lines will carry power away to the grid…
- Grmeyers
  
  I agree
- Anonymous
  
  Some weeks after posting this I checked the shadow on my panels at full ‘mid-winter’ tilt. At 42 degrees latitude my panels throw about a five foot shadow. (At the winter solstice. Top of panels about four feet from ground.)
  
  These panels could be taller than mine and they are located at 51 degrees, so the extra open area could be required, but I’m not convinced.
  
  There’s so little sun during the winter months it might be better to install panels closer together an tilt them up less during the short days in order to get more production out of the available real estate.
  
  I doubt that failing to raise the panels to optimal height would cause more than a small percentage loss and extra rows of panels could easily offset that loss.