The recent destruction of a massive solar farm in Texas highlights the fragility of “renewable” energy infrastructure, and has raised concerns about the negative environmental impacts of supposedly “environmentally friendly” energy sources.
[RELATED: ‘Unmitigated Carbon Super-Polluters:’ The Truth About Offshore Wind…]
“My concern is the hail damage that came through and busted these panels we now have some highly toxic chemicals that could be potentially leaking into our water tables,” said Nick Kaminski, a Texas man living near the solar field. “There’s numerous makeup in the chemicals on this thing, the majority of them are cancer-causing.”
Needville, Texas, has become a hub for solar energy in the state, with over 10,000 acres of solar panels in and around the town.
Ariel footage from the 3,300 acre Fighting Jay’s Solar Farm, shows the solar field in the aftermath of a massive “baseball sized” hail storm that struck Texas earlier this month.
The footage shows the vast majority of the solar panels are shattered following the storm.
Kaminski and others living around the solar farm are concerned about the potential impact on the water table, when the potentially cancer-causing chemicals inside the solar panels leak into the ground.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) damaged or “retired” solar panels are considered hazardous waste, and can cause environmental harm when their materials are released in large quantities.
Despite the mounting negative environmental impacts of solar and wind power being revealed, and both methods displaying fragility in the face of severe weather events, Maine is still pushing forward with its extreme energy policy.
[RELATED: Massive Energy Corporation Says Up To 30% Of Its Wind Turbines Could Be Malfunctioning…]
Recently, Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) designated the historically undeveloped Sears Island as the location for an industrial facility meant to produce and launch turbines for offshore wind.
[RELATED: Mills Designates the Pristine Sears Island to be Developed For Offshore Wind…]
The state has been trying to construct the extremely unpopular “Aroostook Renewable Gateway,” an energy transmission line meant to connect renewable energy sources in Northern Maine and Canada to the rest of New England’s power grid.
The transmission line has garnered outrage from Maine landowners because it will require significant use of eminent domain to seize the land required for the project.
[RELATED: Unpopular “Aroostook Renewable Gateway” May Face More Roadblocks…]
Construction has not yet begun on that project due to numerous legislative and logistical setbacks.
[RELATED: Maine BEP Rejects Controversial EV Mandate…]
A recent effort to mandate electric vehicles in Maine failed after the state’s Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) voted down the unpopular measure.
I’m truly sorry to read about the death of so many solar panels, but will that stop the climate change freaks? I doubt it.
I wonder how long it will take to replace those panels.
There is no subsidy for replacing solar panels (or mountain top windmills. I wonder if this loss was covered by insurance. My guess is nothing will happen for years
Joe Biden caused me to stop wearing my Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses now Janet Mills threatens the leather bomber jackets I’ve worn for 40 plus years. I want to look nothing like these two examples of bad genetics and a life lived poorly. Please Janet, find another more suitable image to try to present; might a suggest a hoodie?
Up here in Dover Foxcroft the Foxcroft Academy has bragged up their soar installation on their new fieldhouse as the “largest roof mounted solar installation” in Maine. For several days this marvelous installation, mounted on a roof facing east, with about a 3 inch pitch ( not even remotely close to the ideal placement for gaining as much as possible from the sun) has been covered with a foot of snow and ice. Can’t even tell there are solar panels on it from the road. The future for this junk, in Maine, at about 45 degrees N latitude, and with 8 hrs and 53 minutes of daylight in Bangor, on Dec 21, is dismal as Maine is a very poor location for solar. No energy is being made anywhere in Maine by solar farms this week in rain and fog.
But we have to remember it is not about generating supposedly “clean” energy as it is about the democrats controlling those of us they think are beneath them.
And the once tough defenders of of our land Has now eased it ‘s oppision to STRIP mining.
Shame on them!
YES the DEP is weaking it’s stand on open pit mining.
Hail is just one of many reasons why solar isn’t reliable. Other include clouds, snow and night time. Solar panels anywhere in Maine are far from the optimal sun angle for power production, need to get south of Atlanta for that.
Well, what do you do with all those destroyed panels and the one that just wear after 15 or so years? They are buried in huge pits dug with Cat D-9 dozers along with windmill blades because neither are recyclable. Now look at the acres and acres of land covered by these unsightly, toxic, and barely useful panels on land that was probably farmland or forest at some point. We can overlook the strip mining for the minerals and metal used to make them I guess. Clean energy? Riiiiiiiiiight! What a scam!
Yes they have insurance, no they will not be put in landfill, yes the sight will be repaired. No there is no leaking chemicals from this type of solar panel.
Someone should work on building a “Small Modular reactor” that will be big enough for a home. Nuclear is the way to go.