https://electrek.co/2020/11/20/texas-largest-solar-project-us-samson/

Invenergy, a Chicago-based global developer and operator of green energy generation and storage, announced a 1,310-megawatt solar farm in northeastern Texas on Wednesday. It will be the largest in the US upon completion.

The solar farm is currently under construction. The Samson Solar Energy Center, as it’s called, will support five major consumer brands and supply power to three Texas municipalities:

AT&T: 500 MW
Honda: 200 MW
McDonald’s: 160 MW
Google: 100 MW
The Home Depot: 50 MW
City of Bryan, TX: 150 MW
City of Denton, TX: 75 MW
City of Garland, TX: 25 MW
Located in Lamar, Red River, and Franklin counties, Samson Solar is a $1.6 billion capital investment and will support up to 600 jobs over the course of the 36-month construction period. Additionally, the project will bring more than $250 million in landowner payments and support local communities through nearly $200 million in property tax payments over the life of the project.

Samson Solar will be constructed in five phases over the next three years, with each phase commencing operation upon completion. The full project will be operational in 2023. When complete, it will produce enough energy to power nearly 300,000 American homes.

And just how much conventionally produced power will be used to fabricate those panels?

Not enough to make the project unprofitable......

I'm sure this has nothing to do with the long term plan to bring enough progressives into Texas to flip it.

Some of us live where the sun don't shine....

Actually nothing to do with green energy, it's all about carbon credits, (brownie points for green energy investments)...and carbon off sets, which allow big polluters to continue to operate dirty industries and trade brownie points which are bought on sold by the big players like an international currency. Think of it as a green bit coin. As an example, let's say a "dirty" industry, smelting or refining heavy metals...is going broke or barely profitable paying operating fines. They can raise some cash by any of the normal means, buy a tree farm in the southeast or west coast, grow trees, don't log it, build carbon credits, apply the carbon credits to reduce or eliminate the annual operating fines, against their real business of smelting. 20 or 30 years down the road, log the tree farm at a profit, sell the tree farm for more than they paid for it, and start over or sell out the smelter too, whatever profits the company execs the most. Who is this shadowy world market boss..I don't think anybody really knows..it is a shadow bureaucracy from the Kyoto Protocols, a bastard child of the UN.

We will see how the Spring tornadoes and hail storms treat the solar panels. Should have been built in West Texas.

There are at least 4 between Lamesa and Snyder.

They cover a lot of ground on both sides of the road.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Guy I know leased part of his ranch for a big solar farm here. 35 year lease.

The main solar guy told him that this project wouldn't make a profit for 27 years.


It ain't about profit.

Wonder who pays to clean up all that stuff at the end of that lease?

Waste of land, tax revenue, natural resources and energy used in construction. Small scale solar has uses. Large scale not so sure.

Like windmills, these solar farms are part of a false economy based on trading mythical carbon credits.

When it comes time to decommision these things, folks might be surprised how economically and environmentally expensive they are.

How often will it be due an upgrade?

The net effect to the average Joe? Lead acid batteries prices have doubled. I'm looking at replacing 6 volt golf cart batteries in my RV and the $88.00 battery has become $260.00

Solar is going to use up a lot of hunting land, we're seeing here in New Jersey and it ain't pretty.

Friend here is loosing his hay lease over just west of Elgin to a solar farm for Pflugerville. His part is 300 acres. Probably put him out of business. All other property in area going to crackerbox subdivisions.

He said energy co. lease land for 30 years and then walk away.

Pretty much what I described above.

I think the subsidies must end around 30 years from now.

If it's so damned profitable, why are they leasing land instead of buying?

But FWIW, that rancher down here said he wasn't stupid... The lease money they offered him was insane. He said his kids and grandkids will be wealthy because of it.

IIRC, he said the annual lease was about $350k. For 30 years... Add that up!

It appears Texas is turning into California.

You seen all the wind turbine farms?

Wind has been in Texas for decades.

Rick Perry was one that pushed green energy here. I have no issue with it.

Will not be an issue. Set the design and design it.

We’ve had a big solar farm over on Webber’s Prairie (City of Austin project, go figure) for going on 15 years now. About 7 miles or so west of me in old cotton fields, then they were corn fields, then cattle leases. Now all surrounding property have sold for sundivisions.

Said the God of Hailfire.

Funny, east side of Austin (east of IH 35 corridor) is historically, as green as they try to be, where the city has always taken their massive schidts! Garbage pits, wastewater treatment facilities, sand and gravel pits, all the unsavory stuff. That stuff was just not tolerated on the westside. When we tried to upgrade roadways for the massive increase of traffic, we were met with courtcase after courtcase. All design and construction monies got wasted fighting litigation. Now they got that Musk guy building that car plant on SH 130 toll road in the middle of an immense sand and gravel pit on the eastside.

Now they are taking sand and gravel out of new pits just a couple of miles down the road from me to use as back fill in the gargantuan holes over by the new factory!!!!

There is no natural or man made catastrophe too big or to severe for that city! They deserve all they have coming.