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Moving 18K trees by transplanting them would cost of fortune. The tree in that part of NJ, are low value pines, They will be cut down, pulped, and 24K trees will be planted somewhere else.
Personal I liked the suggestion for putting them on top of covered parking area, but that would cost alot and would be fixed panels and would bring in a limited amount of power. I guessing the solar panels will be motor controlled to follow the sun.
The trees in the area are quite large. I doubt they'd be replanted anywhere.
I always wonder why solar panels have to be in farms? Why can't they install them on all the roofs of the entire park instead?
We have small solar panels on all the light poles around here, wired directly into the grid. If they can do it here, why can't they do that kinda thing from rooftops?
So what happens if the power fails while people are on the rides? Beyond removing trees, are they sure it will provide enough power to keep the rides going? I would assume a lot of energy is used at amusement parks.
The park will still power off the grid, The solar panels feed the park, and the extra power then feeds the grid, or pulls from the grid as needed.
The parks normally have backup Generators, so they can power ride by ride, to bring them back to a safe location / mode.
Juram (Post #5) has the right idea. They should place the solar collectors over the parking lots. This would provide the area required by the collectors without cutting trees and provide shade for the parked cars. Both have a value.
I heard back when Alternate Energy was first popular that an project using solar collectors to drive engines to pump water was built as an experiment. One of the locals asked the developer if they would rent the space under the collectors as a market stand. Apparently the local food market moved to the shady location as it became available.
In some cases both the collected energy and the shade are valuable.
I estimate it will take 120 Acres to generate the 26MW that need to power the park,
To Put it in the parking lot (While I agree would be a good use of the open parking space area) To build the support structures 10-12 feet up in the air over the parking spaces would add Millions to the project, I'm sure most of the Panels, and the site work will be covered by tax credits, the cost of putting them on support in a parking lot would not that would be a cost that the park would have to cover.
Moving 18K trees by transplanting them would cost of fortune. The tree in that part of NJ, are low value pines, They will be cut down, pulped, and 24K trees will be planted somewhere else.
Personal I liked the suggestion for putting them on top of covered parking area, but that would cost alot and would be fixed panels and would bring in a limited amount of power. I guessing the solar panels will be motor controlled to follow the sun.
Putting the panels on trackers will cost even more, at some point you're looking at a serious decline in value. Yes putting the panels on trackers will produce more power but rarely have I seen it to be even slightly financially prudent. You're paying an exorbitant amount of additional money out of pocket for a fairly limited amount of added production.
I estimate it will take 120 Acres to generate the 26MW that need to power the park,
To Put it in the parking lot (While I agree would be a good use of the open parking space area) To build the support structures 10-12 feet up in the air over the parking spaces would add Millions to the project, I'm sure most of the Panels, and the site work will be covered by tax credits, the cost of putting them on support in a parking lot would not that would be a cost that the park would have to cover.
Only a portion of the cost will recovered through tax credits and yes you can include structures into the cost of a solar power project for the purpose of calculating the 30% tax incentive. Its done quite frequently as the ITC language allows for the cost of the foundation to be rolled into the project if its vital to the project....ie........you can't include the cost of additional parking surfaces that aren't covered by solar panels.
Generally what a company will do is roll the cost of everything into a price per watt, say $3.00 a watt for the entire project, multiplied by the total kW, so let's say it was 1 Megawatt which would equal $3 million, take the 30% off of that and its a $900,000 tax credit for the total cost of the project.
So what happens if the power fails while people are on the rides? Beyond removing trees, are they sure it will provide enough power to keep the rides going? I would assume a lot of energy is used at amusement parks.
The park will still be tied into the grid, essentially the solar is just producing power back into the grid to offset what the park is using. Its going to be a fairly massive system too at around 21MW.
A fair option for those concerned would be for six flags to purchase credits for planting 18,000 trees in another location to offset the removal. That cancels out the effect and allows for cheaper and much more environmentally friendly electricity.
It does nothing of the sort. Newly planted trees in one location do not offset trees cut down in another.
Why don't they arrange to buy their power from a green source already using solar panels? Simple, PR. This is a PR stunt, plain and simple.
Credits, no matter how you twist them when it comes this these things is just another way for money to change hands, it has little if anything to do with the environment.
Now lets get into the science bit. Do newly planted trees offset the benefit of well established and mature trees? How long will it take newly planted trees to grow to the size of those being cut down?
A solar installer once told me never cut down trees for panels.
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