mmahowald t1_j7vxyqk wrote
hello, and thanks for doing this. have you looked into the relative value of land for solar farms based on geographic factors? I went to school in Gunnison Co and a teacher commented that we received about an additional 30% solar energy due to the altitude and i was curious if this would render high altitude land a better candidate than the large flat farmland.
Sammy_Roth t1_j7vyt3a wrote
Hey, that's a really interesting question, thank you! I hadn't heard that before about higher-altitude land, although some quick Googling lends credence: https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/06/04/the-high-altitude-solar-farm-floating-to-success.
Overall, though, I think climate is probably a much bigger factor -- see these NREL maps of U.S. solar resource, showing how much stronger it is in the desert Southwest than elsewhere: https://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar-resource-maps.html
mmahowald t1_j7w0w6u wrote
that makes sense, and the maps make it pretty darned clear. :) I have some family in new mexico and now im recalling all the large empty, sunny land.
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