What is in this article?:
- Sun power: more uses for solar in agriculture
- System costs down
- Connect to power grid
- Payback timeframe
- Something for everyone
- Reliable, trouble-free
- Solar race car
Solar systems can be economically feasible for many farmers and other commercial operations, say the owners of a Mississippi solar firm. Technological advances, government assistance, the need for reliable power, and the growing urgency to reduce the use of fossil fuels is making renewable energy systems increasingly attractive, they note.
There is a lot of misinformation about the feasibility of solar energy in Mississippi and the South, says Will Hegman.
“It’s like the wild, wild West, in terms of the availability of solid facts about solar,” he said at the recent Mississippi event that was part of the American Solar Energy Society’s 2010 National Down on the Farm Solar Tour, the world’s largest grass roots solar event.
Now in its 15th year, the National Solar Tour features thousands of solar-powered homes, businesses, and public buildings.
“You hear all sorts of things — that Mississippi isn’t geographically suited to solar power, that solar systems are unreliable, that solar is just a fad, and on and on.”
But, says Hegman, who with his wife Carolyn, started their own business, Mississippi Solar LLC, to design, market, and install solar systems, the facts are that solar can be economically feasible for many Mississippi farmers and other commercial operations.
“The interest in solar is growing, and we’ve got a number of systems up and running, silently producing a reliable supply of electricity day-in and day-out.”
Technological advances, government assistance, the need for reliable power, and the growing urgency to reduce the use of fossil fuels is making renewable energy systems increasingly attractive, Will says.
