Solar Farming 1

Solar Farming 1

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
In Bruneau, ID the one thing you can be sure of is lots of sunshine… more than 330 days per year. That got farmer Russel Schirmeyer thinking. “Your power bill is going to be set in stone. This is a way to insulate it because you can set your power cost with these as they are producing and as soon as they are paid off you have a net bottom and if you can live with that now, and it is something you can live with in the future.”We just haven't got it to to this point because we have never had the efficiencies that solar can provide. In the last two years, the efficiencies in the panels, the tracking systems and the inverters have just made it to where it is economically feasible to use these as a tool in our irrigation systems.” So Schirmeyer put up the panels on the edges of his fields and he started seeing offset savings on his power bill. ” On this farm which is a pressure rise nation and lift farm i'll be saving $75-$80 an acre.” using tax incentives, depreciation, and grants, Schirmeyer Will pay off his panels in about five years. “Any ag area that pumps water has a big opportunity because they are in the same position as I am.” In a position to cut input costs and innovate renewable energy.
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