Solar power will not solve SC energy needs

When the plug was pulled on the new reactors at V.C. Summer, the proponents of solar power immediately cried, “See, see! We told you nuclear wouldn’t work. Now, we must invest in solar power to save the day.”

I am not against limited solar use, but solar cannot provide the energy required for residential and business consumption in South Carolina. Our state has approximately 20,000 megawatts of generating capacity from various sources. Here is what the solar experts don’t tell you. A 10-megawatt solar array requires 55 acres of land and 44,448 solar panels.

This means it would take 1.1 million acres of land to construct solar facilities to provide the 20,000 megawatts that South Carolina now gets from other sources. Last year, South Carolina farmers harvested 325,000 acres of corn, 248,000 acres of cotton and 390,000 acres of soybeans — or just under 1.1 million acres. Those crops had a total economic impact of $497 million in the state.

Is solar worth every bushel of corn, every bale of cotton and every bushel of soybeans in the entire state of South Carolina? I think not!

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.

This story was originally published March 13, 2018 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Solar power will not solve SC energy needs."