Solar power farm coming to Disney

[bpiper]

Yeah, this stuff is scary but we can control it with sensible fertilizer use. Might mean WDW and other places look less lush and the sugar growers don't make as much money but Florida is built on tourism and not just to Orlando. If the Pols will find the will to make it so and stop kow-tow ing to the sugar and other industries that pay their campaign bills this kind of pollution can stop.
I don't usually stand up on a soap box but I do want people to understand what they spread on the ground doesn't stay there,View attachment 277211 it moves into the waterways so it needs to be controlled. These series of ponds will do that. What came out of the second largest freshwater lake (surface area) in the US to the east coast of Florida is shown above.

Second largest freshwater lake in the US???? It think your forgetting the Great Lakes. I grew up along side of Lake Erie (Cleveland, Port Clinton/Sandusky). Speaking of that lake, it also has the same problem at its western end with fertilizer runoff from farming in Northwest Ohio flowing into the Maumee River and into the relatively shallow western end of Erie. Several years ago, Toledo Ohio had to shut down its water intake from the lake due to toxic algae blooms around it. The city was without water for several days until winds blew the alage away from the water intake.

 

[larryz]

Second largest freshwater lake in the US???? It think you're forgetting the Great Lakes.

I hear you about the Great Lakes, but only Lake Michigan is not shared with Canada. I think @JoeCamel 's point was "large, natural, freshwater lakes in CONUS" because if you exclude Iliamna Lake in Alaska, Okeechobee is the second largest natural freshwater lake in the United States.

 

[wdwmagic]

New 50-megawatt solar facility will provide 25 percent of Walt Disney World power requirement

 

[larryz]

New 50-megawatt solar facility will provide 25 percent of Walt Disney World power requirement

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Solar farms are good...
Just thought I’d state my opinion

 

[Walt d]

This just came out for the Sentinel…

5 MW farm built by Duke energy over 20 acres in the area of Epcot Center Dr. And World drive.

15 year agreement.

Story here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-disney-solar-20150527-story.html

Just saw at the grocery store checking out a magazine of our favorite subject on here wdw. I think the magazine was from life mag, there is a photo b/w of Solar panels in the shape of Mickey’s ears it says it is near Epcot . This mag, is new saw it last weekend. Need to jump on Google maps to find it .

 

[danlb_2000]

New 50-megawatt solar facility will provide 25 percent of Walt Disney World power requirement

Just to be clear, that is 25% of the power requirements during peak sun hours. Still impressive.

 

[ABQ]

Rats, each time I see this thread come back up, I hope we'll hear from @PhotoDave219 again.

 

[JoeCamel]

Just saw at the grocery store checking out a magazine of our favorite subject on here wdw. I think the magazine was from life mag, there is a photo b/w of Solar panels in the shape of Mickey’s ears it says it is near Epcot . This mag, is new saw it last weekend. Need to jump on Google maps to find it .

Or you could just read this thread

 

[DisneyCane]

Just to be clear, that is 25% of the power requirements during peak sun hours. Still impressive.

It also says "up to."

Impressive in some ways but not so much in others. It shows the big limitation of solar - space efficiency. It is taking 270 acres to accomplish this. To supply 100% during peak sun would take almost 1100 acres. To supply 100% of all power at wdw would take 3-4 times that.

There's nothing "bad" about wdw using land they have to increase their use of renewable energy. It just shows that solar isn't practical to replace a large percentage of total energy generation because it takes so much space.

 

[Coaster Lover]

At 270 MW, this will be the 9th largest solar farm in the US... by comparison, a 266 ME farm was built in Cali in 2011 for $1.36 billion.

 

[JoeCamel]

At 270 MW, this will be the 9th largest solar farm in the US... by comparison, a 266 ME farm was built in Cali in 2011 for $1.36 billion.

I wonder if that figure includes land acquisition? That can be a huge part of the cost.

 

[matt9112]

I wonder if that figure includes land acquisition? That can be a huge part of the cost.

I'm sure building anything in California is more expensive period.

 

[Magicart87]

It also says "up to."

Impressive in some ways but not so much in others. It shows the big limitation of solar - space efficiency. It is taking 270 acres to accomplish this. To supply 100% during peak sun would take almost 1100 acres. To supply 100% of all power at wdw would take 3-4 times that.

There's nothing "bad" about wdw using land they have to increase their use of renewable energy. It just shows that solar isn't practical to replace a large percentage of total energy generation because it takes so much space.

It'd be close to doable if panels were also added to every warehouse and show building.

 

[bhg469]

Rats, each time I see this thread come back up, I hope we'll hear from @PhotoDave219 again.

Hes still very active on twitter.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Of course, the cynic in me - I have to wonder how much is altruism and environmental responsibility - and how much is saving serious coin on the electric bill... Though solar makes perfect sense for WDW, given all the Florida sunshine. Why haven't they started sooner?

 

[Master Yoda]

Of course, the cynic in me - I have to wonder how much is altruism and environmental responsibility - and how much is saving serious coin on the electric bill... Though solar makes perfect sense for WDW, given all the Florida sunshine. Why haven't they started sooner?

Solar on a large scale has not been economically viable for very long. Many would argue that it is still not as there are other options that produce much more power with a much smaller footprint.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Solar on a large scale has not been economically viable for very long. Many would argue that it is still not as there are other options that produce much more power with a much smaller footprint.

Yeah, and the technology has gotten better with time as well. But you would think even a small ROI would be appealing on this scale.

 

[Coaster Lover]

I wonder if that figure includes land acquisition? That can be a huge part of the cost.

It was the cost quoted in Wikipedia and I didn't do much further digging. It should be noted though that the cost of solar panels has dropped SIGNIFICANTLY in the past 7 years. While I'm sure there are a LOT of labor costs that go into building something this big, the material costs at least would be less.

 

[Kevin_W]

There's nothing "bad" about wdw using land they have to increase their use of renewable energy. It just shows that solar isn't practical to replace a large percentage of total energy generation because it takes so much space.

That depends how you look at it. The US as a whole has a lot of space compared to most countries int he world.