Hi,

I am writing this letter to oppose solar power energy farms covering our farmland especially in the valley along Bailer Hill Rd. Instead of littering our countryside with black rectangles everywhere, how about putting them on existing structures such as your office buildings. The County has a lot of office buildings. Maybe use the roofs of the hospital and school buildings, as well. Leave the country alone. Farm land is precious.

Here are some facts according to OPALCO's own website about how much land would be needed to be energy independent:

For solar to power the San Juans, we would need 95,194,000 KWh/power ratio of 1.3/each panel output 4.5KW/hr = 16,272,479 OPALCO solar panels to power the San Juans. Given that 600 panels are put on 19 acres at Baylor Hill, we would need 515,295 acres of land to power the San Juans with electricity from solar panels. That is BEFORE everyone has electric cars and BEFORE they replace their natural gas appliances with electrical. Given there are only 110,127 acres in SJC, this presents a problem with solar.

This is derived from the following information:
An average home uses about 893 kW/month or 11,000 kW/yr

About 8654 households in San Juan County, meaning we need about 95,194 MW/yr or 95,194,000 KW/yr(2020 census)

One solar panel on a house produces about 250-400 watts of power/day

Production ratio in Seattle is about 1.3, because of the number of overcast days Seattle gets and the temperature and the small amount of peak sun we get in the winter time...like none. Production ratio for SJC is not listed anywhere.

Baylor Hill set to produce 3800 MWh annually with 2.7 MWh solar array – 600 panels about 5% of total power annually

Each panel produces 4.5 KW/hr,

Quick Fact: Bailer Hill Microgrid - OPALCO
Note: This project is currently in permitting and will be offered to members when permits are complete, hopfully [Not]

Thanks for your time and careful consideration!

RP