Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
To paraphrase the Dali Lama, the best place to live is the place you are living at right now.
Best Place to Live for Solar in U.S.
- Thread starter Kenny_
- Start date
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Rapid Shut Down requirements?Then why do colleges 100s of miles away commit 100s of acers of farm land to solar fields to ship power to their campuses before they have ever roof on campus filled with solar? (Oh yeah it looks bad on their pretty campuses)
Structural requirements?
Concho!
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Hydro Quebec generates most of their power in Northern Quebec (James Bay area) but sells a good portion of that power to New York State 1000miles further south.
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
That is a super point, after all, if you need A/C 24/7 8 months of the year, just to not be cooked in your own home, is all the 'extra solar' of any real benefit?
15-20 degrees cooler would be a big difference in the A/C loads "lost" to make a comfortable home. If you collect nearly the same energy but have 20-degree lower cooling load, that could be quantified.
I wonder if we could create a better "Top 20 list" taking into account net energy, after cooling loads, local regulations, cost of land/property, Net metering rules/rates paid for grid tied.
It’s not their money their spending… and they want to appear trendy, on the cutting edge… and cool…ya have to do somthing to get a hundred grand a year from the kids parents…
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
Makes sense to move, if you can.
A "Best places to live - Solar Edition!" lol.
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
I played with PV Watts, and locations south to north west of the Mississippi - which seem to be low cloud areas, lots of open land (trees can be a bugger let me tell ya!) I saw good solar potential in the corridor from KS to MO and many of these areas don't get as hot as AZ/TX/NM and property costs and tax are quite low.
From the original list posted, Dodge City was 21st,
a bit cooler if you go North into MO - Kirksville looked nice, low cost for land.
From the original list posted, Dodge City was 21st,
a bit cooler if you go North into MO - Kirksville looked nice, low cost for land.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
I have to remove or top a tree next year.
I have nurtured and watered it and this year it sprang up another 10 feet reducing my sunshine but I still need some shade in my yard.
Always something!
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Trees - long term solar storage/future heating fuel!
When I was a kid, we never needed A/C in this part of Ontario, just open the windows at night, and close in the early morning, but every summer it has been hotter, dryer, for longer.
Then we used a roll-around A/C unit for about 5-6 weeks July-August and that was good enough, but now it ain't cutting it. With really good ducted heatpumps, it makes sense to have cooling and shoulder-season heating.
When I was a kid, we never needed A/C in this part of Ontario, just open the windows at night, and close in the early morning, but every summer it has been hotter, dryer, for longer.
Then we used a roll-around A/C unit for about 5-6 weeks July-August and that was good enough, but now it ain't cutting it. With really good ducted heatpumps, it makes sense to have cooling and shoulder-season heating.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
I am in a low humidty high desert environment so passive cooling most of the year with a 45 watt evap cooler for a few months.
Watts Happening
I call it like I see it.
- Joined
- May 3, 2022
- Messages
- 811
Holy smokes, we’re #5!
Only downside for me specifically is that we have something @Will Prowse wouldn’t understand, it’s called winter.
I changed our entire house over to use mini splits for all HVAC, and while they’re super energy efficient, it’s amazing how much power your house consumes over an entire winter, while simultaneously being by far the worst time for production.
Last year our power consumption was quite the inverse of your “average American home” that uses natural gas to heat in our area. We added quite a bit of insulation this year, so we’ll see, but I’m sure it’s going to be at a deficit.
All in all, amazed we’re that high up the list.
Only downside for me specifically is that we have something @Will Prowse wouldn’t understand, it’s called winter.
I changed our entire house over to use mini splits for all HVAC, and while they’re super energy efficient, it’s amazing how much power your house consumes over an entire winter, while simultaneously being by far the worst time for production.
Last year our power consumption was quite the inverse of your “average American home” that uses natural gas to heat in our area. We added quite a bit of insulation this year, so we’ll see, but I’m sure it’s going to be at a deficit.
All in all, amazed we’re that high up the list.
rodrick
Free energy enthusiast
You can live without electricity but you have to eat!
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Alkaline
Solar Wizard
Key West? Is this a joke with all the hurricanes? Noo....
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
We don't have much of a winter either. IMO, you can keep it. Lol
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
The list is "Ranked by annual sunshine" only - not the chances your PV array did a Dorothy out into the Atlantic one September.
Imagine comparing two locations, and Key west is 10% better solar potential, but the other location rarely experiences high winds. The cost of construction/insurance for the two PV set ups will be drasticly different.
I would like to add in rankings for: Cooling Degree-Days and Heating Degree-Days, for an annual net energy ranking, and see where that lands.
As others have noted, access to water, land costs, local regulation concerning Solar and net metering agreements are all important considerations as well as local extreme weather conditions.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
I would like to see a comparison using the albedo effect of cooler temps and reflected sunlight from snow in that comparison.
Too much sunlight means hotter temps causing loss of output but colder temps increase output and snow can reflect 80% of sunlight.
KITROBASKIN
Solar Enthusiast
Seems like the article was just considering number of sunny days for those who dislike cloudy weather? In true forum style, the discussion evolves towards our interests.
Seems relevant that these expanded variables should include access to life giving water? Evaporative coolers are not an option given that our location is lacking H2O in that volume. Where does your water come from? Every sunny day is a day without the potential for rain. How many sunbelt cities are mining their aquifers with no hope of fully replenishing the supply? Taking water from a politically weaker region?
Guess there’s a Debby Downer for just about anything. Sorry.
Seems relevant that these expanded variables should include access to life giving water? Evaporative coolers are not an option given that our location is lacking H2O in that volume. Where does your water come from? Every sunny day is a day without the potential for rain. How many sunbelt cities are mining their aquifers with no hope of fully replenishing the supply? Taking water from a politically weaker region?
Guess there’s a Debby Downer for just about anything. Sorry.
Delmar
Solar Addict
I live one-hour north of Houston, and whenever there is a hurricane in Louisiana my local power station load shares and we have 8-10 hour rolling blackouts. Even though it’s a separate grid.
Delmar
Solar Addict
In south Texas every summer there is a high pressure system “aka heat dome” that parks overhead and we won’t see a cloud for weeks or months.
In the winter on a clear 40’s day with brisk breeze my 400W of panels will actually produce 400W. Otherwise in the summer heat its barely above 300-320W.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
That is something the comparson doesn't talk about and heat reduces output.
Here in the Rockies on that sunny winter day my 400 watt system produces more than 400 watts and with cooler panels and sun reflecting off the snow you get great output.
SilverbackMP
Solar Addict
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2022
- Messages
- 1,008
They can transmit long distances though. This one will go uninterrupted from western Kansas to the Illinois/Indiana border where it will feed into other lines. It’s a hot button issue in my state because they are using eminent domain to accomplish it.
The Grain Belt Express power line gets final approval in Missouri
The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved the high-capacity transmission line to carry clean energy from Kansas through northern Missouri and Illinois despite landowners’ concerns.
www.stlpr.org
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Darn, just when I was pulling for MO as a great solar spot. (good solar, water, cool but not cold, warm but not too hot, affordable land, low taxes, - but they may take you little piece of paradise to run a new power transmission line!They can transmit long distances though. This one will go uninterrupted from western Kansas to the Illinois/Indiana border where it will feed into other lines. It’s a hot button issue in my state because they are using eminent domain to accomplish it.
The Grain Belt Express power line gets final approval in Missouri
The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved the high-capacity transmission line to carry clean energy from Kansas through northern Missouri and Illinois despite landowners’ concerns.
