Re-selling or Re-purposing a Solar Farm

[jdell408]

I'm new to the forum but very happy I found it. A partner and I have been in some serious discussion and number crunching on building a relatively large ground installation farm at around 200kw. Out initial thoughts were a complete off-grid system using a large battery bank for non-sunlight times. The PPA agreements for our area, however, turned out to be a bit more favorable than we initially planned for so we are now looking at a grid-tied system with no batteries but back up generators for emergencies.

The electricity produced by the farm would be used for our own purposes for around 1-2 years during which time we are considering developing the 2-acre lot of land for manufactured homes. My question is how can we determine how much value is added to the development if there is a farm of that size on it? Or, does it add any actual value at all? Is it better to simply part the hardware out to recoup some of our costs when we are finished with our initial 1-2 year project?

I know there are a lot of "depends" qualifiers that need to be answered here, but I'm really just looking for general answers if anyone's knowledgeable in the re-selling of farms or anything related.

Thanks in advance.

[Mike90250]

First question is
What sort of panels are installed on the solar farm ? What was the factory warranty on them ?

I ask, because some early farms used cheap, toxic, short lived PV panels. Don't buy 2 acres of hazmat.

[jdell408]

First question is
What sort of panels are installed on the solar farm ? What was the factory warranty on them ?

I ask, because some early farms used cheap, toxic, short lived PV panels. Don't buy 2 acres of hazmat.

The solar farm hasn't been built yet. We're looking at our exit strategy before building a farm of that size. Basically, we have a limited amount of time that we will need that much energy and we are wondering what can be done with it when we're finished after 1.5-2 years. The PPA for our area only allows credit for consumption so selling back isn't really an option, unless we develop the acreage into sub divisions. But does that really up the value of the land? Is there a demand for something like this?

[azdave]

I must not understand your requirements. Sounds like a whole lot of trouble to go through if grid power is available and generators will cover you in emergencies.

[littleharbor]

I must not understand your requirements. Sounds like a whole lot of trouble to go through if grid power is available and generators will cover you in emergencies.

And when you open with the comment thinking originally of using batteries, this would definitely be a losing proposition.

[bcroe]

And 2 acres sounds too small for your ideas. Here 3 building with required sewer system
and PV solar 1/10 that size fit comfortably on 5 acres. And its compatible with the power
company. Bruce Roe

[J.P.M.]

I think the OP is considering doing something that they know little about. Seeking the advise of professionals and those who are in the business of building such facilities may be good advice.

[jdell408]

I think the OP is considering doing something that they know little about. Seeking the advise of professionals and those who are in the business of building such facilities may be good advice.

Darn, if only there were forums where people such as myself could go to discuss such things and thus maybe learn from people more experienced, you know maybe those who are in the business of building such facilities?

And 2 acres sounds too small for your ideas. Here 3 building with required sewer system
and PV solar 1/10 that size fit comfortably on 5 acres. And its compatible with the power
company. Bruce Roe

Thanks for your response but a 200kw, ground ballast mounted farm will easily fit on less than one acre. We already have the site survey complete and a quote using 325kw panels and it will conservatively cover about .75 - 1acre. I know you mentioned you have buildings and such but we will have no such structures (above ground).

I must not understand your requirements. Sounds like a whole lot of trouble to go through if grid power is available and generators will cover you in emergencies.

The problem with grid power is that it costs money and the electricity generated is done so through less than acceptable means. Again, this forum seems dedicated to those wanting to take advantage of the infinity fusion reactor in the sky rather than burn old dinosaur bones, thus our project and my questions here. The reasons I mentioned batteries in the beginning were to show that we quickly realized that YES, it is a losing proposition to use them if we can simply do a 1:1 credit PPA with the energy company. Sorry if I confused you mentioning batteries but the point is that we will NOT have batteries and will be grid tied. The 1.5-2.0 year lifespan of our project will then effectively be energy neutral but after 2 years we will have 2 acres of land, 3/4ths of an acre of that land with a 200kw solar farm that we don't know what to do with. So the main question is, what do you do with a large solar farm you are no longer using? Is it best to part it out? Are there developers looking for farms such as this for sale (I can't find any in the US, but there are many in Europe)? Some initial ideas:

1) Develop the other acreage around the farm for housing using the solar farm as the energy provider for development.
2) Simply part out the entire farm on eBay or craigslist.
3) Partner with an installation company and part-out + install solar systems in the surrounding areas.

Any help with ideas would be much appreciated.

[Mike90250]

The current market for used panels is about half retail cost. And the racking would mostly be scrap, the time to locate suitable buyers, it would rot out, unless it was engineered out of unistrut, that could be taken apart and sold as parts.

And you used the acceptable word. There have been many studies about the costs of building solar panels, I hope you have read them and understand there is a huge cost sunk into the manufacture of panels, refining silicon, glass, aluminum, coatings, sealants, which will eventually generate electricity.

> 3) Partner with an installation company and part-out + install solar systems in the surrounding areas.

sounds like the best bet to me. And have you found the cost to bring grid power to your site ?

[J.P.M.]

Darn, if only there were forums where people such as myself could go to discuss such things and thus maybe learn from people more experienced, you know maybe those who are in the business of building such facilities?

Any help with ideas would be much appreciated.

There is such a place where people such as yourself can go to discuss the necessary technical and financial things necessary for building such facilities as you describe and it is not a forum. Such places are called universities. That you do not know the scope of what is required for what you describe is a giveaway of your lack of necessary knowledge to attempt a project of such scope.

This is a discussion. And this forum is a place to exchange information. Some of that information comes from people who have spent engineering careers as P.E's and other technical types in the power and process industries learning some of the possibilities and limitations of projects as large as what you describe. Along the way, they probably have interacted with a lot of well meaning but very misinformed and/or inexperienced people assuming things are simple. IMO only, you are one of those ill informed and na

[jdell408]

The current market for used panels is about half retail cost. And the racking would mostly be scrap, the time to locate suitable buyers, it would rot out, unless it was engineered out of unistrut, that could be taken apart and sold as parts.

And you used the acceptable word. There have been many studies about the costs of building solar panels, I hope you have read them and understand there is a huge cost sunk into the manufacture of panels, refining silicon, glass, aluminum, coatings, sealants, which will eventually generate electricity.

> 3) Partner with an installation company and part-out + install solar systems in the surrounding areas.

sounds like the best bet to me. And have you found the cost to bring grid power to your site ?

Thank you very much, this is exactly the info I was looking/hoping for. Yes, we have done all the research for the size, scope and effort required for our project. The biggest ? for all of the project is what we can do with the hardware when our project is complete. It is very rare that anyone would plan a solar project of this size, only to be used for a short amount of time, thus the lack of info available, thus my arrival here. Thanks again.

[jdell408]

there is such a place where people such as yourself can go to discuss the necessary technical and financial things necessary for building such facilities as you describe and it is not a forum. Such places are called universities. That you do not know the scope of what is required for what you describe is a giveaway of your lack of necessary knowledge to attempt a project of such scope.

This is a discussion. And this forum is a place to exchange information. Some of that information comes from people who have spent engineering careers as p.e's and other technical types in the power and process industries learning some of the possibilities and limitations of projects as large as what you describe. Along the way, they probably have interacted with a lot of well meaning but very misinformed and/or inexperienced people assuming things are simple. Imo only, you are one of those ill informed and na

lol

[jflorey2]

There is such a place where people such as yourself can go to discuss the necessary technical and financial things necessary for building such facilities as you describe and it is not a forum. Such places are called universities. That you do not know the scope of what is required for what you describe is a giveaway of your lack of necessary knowledge to attempt a project of such scope.

I'd have to disagree there. I went to some pretty good technical universities (both undergrad and grad) and while I learned the basics of electronics there, I learned almost zero about siting, designing, specifying, installing and maintaining solar power systems. That I learned largely by doing, often through trial and error (which I would not recommend.) Forums like this can help to avoid such haphazard training mechanisms, no matter what your technical background.

[jflorey2]

Thank you very much, this is exactly the info I was looking/hoping for. Yes, we have done all the research for the size, scope and effort required for our project. The biggest ? for all of the project is what we can do with the hardware when our project is complete.

The biggest problems you are going to face there is that solar is evolving rapidly. Panels are rapidly decreasing in cost per watt and slowly improving in efficiency. In addition, new technologies (frameless, BIPV, bifacial) appear all the time - and one of them may quickly dominate, leaving your older panels out of sync with newer designs.

You can get a great deal on panels (say, $.35/watt for 200kW) then try to sell them for $.25 a watt in ten years - only to find out that new panels in smaller quantities are going for $.25 a watt.

[SunEagle]

There have been thousands of community or private solar farms below 500kw built and connected to the grid after a Contract (or purchase power agreement) to sell the POCO power is completed.

Most of those private farms end up using some of the power generated and selling the excess to the POCO. The Contracts can state that the excess power will increase to ZZ kWh after 2 years so the POCO could purchase 100% of the output of the farm at a prescribed $ / MWh.

I would advise you looking into a solar company that might be able to set up the Contract with the POCO based on your estimated production and usage. They may also work at a deal to finance the project.

I would expect that very few POCO's would work with private individuals that wants to perform a DIY installation of a solar farm and then sell 100% of the output a couple of years later but I could be wrong.