(click on the photo to see it full size)
It’s easy to talk about solar panels and solar projects, but have you seen one up close? Solar developers always have some beauty shots on their websites to show you how pretty they are, but what do they REALLY look like? What would an installation look like if they were installed here instead of on some perfect, flat land in a sunny climate? Well, as luck would have it, the answer is short drive away.
Sherman New York is an example
On just a tiny fraction of the area planned for Wattsburg, in nearby Sherman, New York, just outside of town on Route 430 is a 34 acre project still in the process of being installed. If you drive through the countryside from Findley Lake toward Sherman, you’ll suddenly come up on the solar installation and it looks completely out of place. It’s a jarring image. It’s like someone scattered large metal sheets all over the fields, it’s nothing like the pretty pictures shown on websites touting green energy. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but this is a long way from pretty. It makes the whole area look cheap and rundown and these panels are brand new. People love the countryside for it’s beautiful views, but put in a solar project and you have something else altogether.
Remember, the entire Sherman project, which is still under way, is only 9.62 Megawatts on 34 acres. Wattsburg, which is supposedly 80 Megawatts, now said to be on over 900 acres, would be around 30 times the size of this one.
Is this kind of industrial growth, where trees and fields used to be, a sign of progress? Is this what the people of Venango Township want? Is this the view of the countryside you want to see? You need to let your supervisors know. Show up at the meetings and ask questions. Tell them what you think. The developers care about the money, not green electricity and certainly not you. A decision on this project will be made with or without your input, so if you want to have your say, if you want to affect the outcome, you have to show up, stand up and speak up.
I’ve seen all the post about the wattsburg solar project I’ve never been in favor of it from the beginning again I don’t begrudge the landowners but I’m fully aware that it’s a tax grab by the shell companies owned by a foreign company upon thinking about this for the last several weeks I’m wondering if anybody at the meeting or why there isn’t any talk of converting the Union City dam for electric power decades ago they talked about this and I think it’s a much better avenue let alone an actual benefit for the surrounding communities no I don’t want the eyesore and anybody who does any research should realize by now that they’re not nearly as effective as they’d like you to believe continual maintenance and possible storm damage it’s a waste of our tax dollars and if you do the research if you can’t convince them to convert the Union City damn I still believe hydrogen generators are better route again they run 24/7 make electricity around the clock don’t need wind don’t need the sun to shine and certainly a lot less maintenance due to bad weather etc just my opinion but I believe it’s an informed opinion and accurate and I’m pretty sure the powers to be don’t care what I think they just want my tax money