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🔥♻️ 85% of renewable heat in the EU comes from bioheat!
With 75% of heating still fossil-fueled, switching to modern biomass is key for a cleaner, local, and energy-independent future. 🌱🏡
🔋 Ready to heat smarter and greener? 🌍
#Bioheat #RenewableHeat #Biomass #LocalEnergy #EUenergy 🔥🌿👉 bioenergyeurope.org

In a #Cleveland suburb, this old #CoalPlant will soon be replaced by a massive #SolarFarm

Inside Climate News
July 26, 2024

"#CoalFired power plant that started running more than a century ago is about to get a long-overdue retirement, and its electricity will be replaced by a solar farm and a #BatteryStorage system on an existing #brownfield.

"The project in #PainesvilleOhio, a suburb of Cleveland, is one of about two dozen clean energy and emissions-reduction initiatives across the country that are sharing $4.3 billion in funding announced on Monday by the #BidenAdministration.

"It was a happy day for Doug Lewis, Painesville’s city manager. He and his colleagues have been considering how to close the city-owned power plant and replace it with a cleaner alternative. They also have wanted to redevelop the site of a long-shuttered #chemical factory near the shores of Lake Erie.

"The federal government will now pay about $80 million to install solar and batteries on the former factory land and to beautify the rest of the brownfield by planting a #meadow of #wildflowers and constructing a #BikeTrail. The trail will provide a connection between Painesville and a regional trail that runs along the lake.

[...]

"The solar farm will have capacity of 35 megawatts and the battery storage system will have capacity of 10 megawatts. It will be capable of running for three hours at that level before recharging.

"The new construction will be on land that once was home to the Diamond Shamrock Corp. chemical plant, which operated there from 1912 to 1977 and occupied about 1,100 acres. The plant’s products included baking soda, chromium compounds, and hydrochloric and sulfuric acids.

"Since the site closed, the community and the federal government have gone through the slow and trying process of removing #pollutants to make it site safe for redevelopment.

The current project can serve as a case study for many things, including regional cooperation. Painesville, in Lake County, worked with officials in neighboring Cuyahoga County and the Cleveland city government to file an application with the federal government that included #RenewableEnergy projects for all of them."

#SolarFarms
#RenewablesNow
#RenewableEnergy
#LocalEnergy
#NoNewNukes
#NoNukes #Ohio #Bicycles #BikePaths #GreenSpace #Reclamation #SolarSundays

Scientists test #agriculture and #SolarEnergy on #Illinois #farms

Two experiments in the state are measuring which crops could grow well under these panels.

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco
Jul 18, 2024, 2:58pm EDT

"Thousands of #wildflowers are blooming under rows of solar panels in eastern Illinois. #Milkweeds, #BlackEyedSusans and native #PrairieGrasses catch the sunlight that streams past solar panels on one end of this 54-acre property near Champaign.

"'Obviously, this setting is not perfect for the farming system,' D.K. Lee, a professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said about the narrow space between solar panel arrays.

"But this experimental station called #SolarFarm 2.0 could help UIUC scientists determine whether the marriage between Midwestern agriculture and solar power will be a happy one. Researchers are piloting how crops such as grains and #soybeans used primarily to feed livestock grow with solar panels obstructing their full view of the sun. The counterintuitive practice is called #agrivoltaics, a nascent industry that partners solar developers looking for large plots of land and farmers looking to make additional income.

"That’s why two parallel experiments are underway here to find out what can grow and thrive under solar panels. To hit the ambitious clean energy targets set by state and federal officials, solar power will have to increase close to seven times over current capacity by 2035. That will mean millions of acres devoted to solar power — many of which could be in America’s #farmlands. But to make sure that agricultural communities aren’t left behind by the clean energy transition, scientists want to know what it will take for life to persist beneath solar panels — potentially a first step for farmers and solar power to co-exist.

"'We can only farm about 70% of the land here,' said Bruce E. Branham, professor of horticulture at UIUC. 'So we’ve got 30% of the land that would be farmed in full sun that is just vacant.'

"But in just two years and despite physical constraints, initial findings suggest that the #sorghum grain could be a promising crop to grow alongside solar panels. Branham said that so far it appears that combining sorghum with solar panels has resulted in a 59% increase in efficiency. And wildlife, including #birds and #bees, are flocking to the improved habitat. It’s a good start, but there’s still ways to go before solar farms like these are generating serious energy.

"'This is a 54-acre site, and we’re getting 12 megawatts,' Banham said. 'A lot of power plants are much, much greater than that.'

"In all, Solar Farm 2.0 produces close to 1% of the generating power of the #ClintonPowerStation, a #NuclearPowerPlant just a 45 minute drive east. But for Banham and others, this presents an opportunity to combine Midwestern row crops with solar power to generate enough energy to compete with #FossilFuels and other clean energy alternatives."

#SolarFarms #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #LocalEnergy #NoNewNukes #NoNukes #SolarFarm #SaveTheFarms #IllinoisFarms #MidwestFarms #SolarSundays

Another #SolarFarm project is underway for the #Groveville section of #BuxtonMaine -- near an existing power distribution line. That could power nearby towns!

There were concerns about the nearby waterways, but those were addressed, and there will be a forest buffer for wildlife to cross.

Little River Solar Project
Submitted on August 24, 2020

Summary

"BWC Little River, LLC is proposing to construct and operate the Little River Solar Project, an approximately 5.81-megawatt DC solar array project located on Groveville Road. The project will be located on portions of five parcels (Map 7, lots 1, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E) consisting of 19.04 acres of open fields and woodlands. The project will connect to an existing Central Maine Power distribution line on Groveville Road and will provide community distributed electric generation. The property is in the Village, Residential and Rural Districts."

https://www.buxton.me.us/planning-board/agenda-items/little-river-solar-project-0

#Maine #SolarFarms #RenewablesNow #RenewableEnergy #LocalEnergy

@mikeyh #localenergy #localpower 😃

#LocalEnergy

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