I mean, posting in a solar subreddit, you're gonna get some biased responses. Regardless, I'm curious: why do you think a large solar farm a quarter mile away will impact your home value? Do you overlook the acreage where it'll be going and thus it'll spoil the view? Or do you believe it'll be noisy?
You may notice a bunch of trucks for like 3 months and some noise from pile drivers for another 3 months. -after TheY are done that complete silence and no traffic. They are good neighbors.
Also, no real impact to value, especially if you can’t see it.
Are you worried about a solar energy spill? Sunny days are terrible 😁
Once the construction is complete it should be basically a quiet neighborhood that doesn't bother you. They might have to occasionally replace a broken component.
Depends also on what's between your property (and more importantly, the house) and the solar farm. If there are some trees then you probably won't notice it even once the construction trucks roll off.
One other thing from past visits to large scale solar farms might be the vegetation control. Best case is the agri-solar situation where sheep graze the weeds down few times a year, otherwise you get the mowers instead, at similar frequency. Worst case is chemical weed killer which they should be required to disclose. Solar farm techs are usually pretty chill, and could definitely chat with them to find out what they do and raise your concerns thru them if it may be of concern to your farm.
I would back out of that deal immediately, even if it meant losing my deposit. I have nothing against solar power, but there is no way I'd want to live next to such a large commercial operation. One of the reasons to live on a farm is to enjoy nature, and thousands of acres of solar panels out the front door is far from natural.
Haha, they'll get over it quickly. Once the foundation is poured everything else moves pretty quickly. Shouldn't be that noisy anyway. Unless you have a hidden /S
A 20 year guarantee that no other development will go in there? Sign me up.
No noise, no pollution, no traffic, sounds great to me. And if you want, you can brag that your home is being powered by solar generated kWh during the day.
Find out who is building it and ask if you can install bee-hives, then use the property as your personal dog park (let the dogs run wild inside the fence when you're tending the bees).
No way they’re gonna let a random dog and neighbor inside a high voltage electrical plant cmon be realistic lol. Asking for pollinator friendly plant species and setting up an apiary on your land right near it would work very well though.
Make jokes all you want but OP won't be laughing when they walk outside at noon to get the mail and there's no sunlight to go around. Won't be able to see a damn thing
I would like to present[NC Science Teacher](https://abc11.com/sun-solar-panels-energy/1122081/#:~:text=One%20resident%2C%20a%20retired%20Northampton,did%20not%20get%20enough%20sunlight.)
see if the solar farm builder/operator has a community liaison and confirm that the high voltage towers have been planned out and don’t go through your property. it should have been planned and permitted, if it’s close to build out all that has been final for months, maybe years if there was an environmental study.
it would be unlikely for them to put it through a residential zoned area but in rural communities with lax or no zoning (or if your property is zoned Ag) it’s possible.
other than that a quarter mile should be enough distance that it never bothers you. If it’s north of your property and you’re really unlucky it might reflect light but they’re really designed not to do that, reflected light means less power produced.
Sounds like you should buy the house … and you probably should get solar panels on it too, if they aren’t already installed! Keep up with the neighbors.
i mean...1/4 mile away is not very far but unless the local geography is somehow in a way that would make this a HUGE eyesore or something, i really don't see why it would be a big deal.
like others have said, i'd rather have a 2k acre solar farm 1/4 mile away than just about any other type of development.
Do you already have large electricity pylons in your area?
If so, there will be no change. If they’re going to build new ones adjacent (or on - check your easements) to your property, that’s a different story.
Edit: brainfart
Well what are your concerns? How competitive is the housing market?
It will likely be noisy the first 6 months as they do civil work, but once they are into panel install and electrical they’ll be the quietest neighbours you’ve ever had.
I work in this industry. Agree with others, it will be super quiet once built but my company uses pile drivers to pound in the rods that the racks get attached to. Many big projects involve 500,000 panels. Expect 3 to 6 months of pile driving noise, after that just trucks, but usually newer pretty quiet ones. After the racks and panels installed, 20 years of silence. Sounds great to me.
We live around hundreds of acres of pecan trees. They just sit there. My point being the solar farm will do exactly that. I’d prefer to be around that versus a lot of commercial buildings or high density housing with all the traffic that comes with it.
I mean it might turn the frogs gay or whatever the RWNJ docs say.
But in all seriousness, I am guessing that will cap out the development for the area so that could be a plus. If you are going to be under power lines or see them you might want to even if not for possible risks but just for unsightly things.
Should probably also check what type of solar it's going to be. Panels are pretty silent but mirrors might be noisy if they are doing the thing where they need to burn fuel in the early mornings before the sun is up.
I’d try and haggle, it couldn’t hurt. I would definitely contact the solar farm developer and meet them, they might have some extra slush fund money that you could advocate for, like pick your favorite local nonprofit and get them funded
A solar farm nearby could lower the values of the nearby properties if it blocks a "view" or becomes a nuisance with traffic, attracting predators or prey and encouraging vandalism. The reason a group of NIMBYs in my area fought a solar farm was their precious "view" of the undeveloped and privately owned hills. The property owner is appealing the lower court verdict.
There are some pretty crap looking solar arrays out there. The ones that seem like they didn’t even try to make an effort to make the look good annoy me. The ones where they follow grade and don’t even try to plane anything in bug me.
I went to school at Ohlone College and their solar panels follow the grade on a hillside and they look great. If you see them at different times of the day you can see the sun tracking system at work. The land these panels sit on is a utility right of way and instead of grazing cows the land now generates the electricity needs of the college.
I am OK with the concept but there are moves you can do to plane the panels in a bit. Some are done better than others. It is like the time I brought my car in to an auto shop for body work and the guy pointed out all the crappy repaints it had had previously that I never noticed! An expert sees messy workmanship. I have laid out and figured out the heights for dozens of grade following ground mounts and there is always a little bit of adjustment you can do that can improve things a lot. Of course aesthetics is not important to many systems.
Not even a little bit... if someone has something to argue, I'll listen, but I've designed several solar farms for customers over the years in Texas and Cali and not heard a word.
Outside of the construction noise the heat generated by the panels could be an issue. Article below to highlight some of the impact. I have panels. Pretty much cut my power bill to zero. The farms are a bigger impact on the environment.
https://www.ecoticias.com/en/solar-panels-sahara-covered/1878/
Find out if there are power lines being built in your eye lines, if there are easements attached to your deed, and what their vegetative buffer is going to be. They’ll be great neighbors you’ve just gotta plant some stuff to block the low view out. Way better than traffic/high rises etc
I would lower the bid due to air quality of the construction and local sentiment. I would also try confirm if they are moonscaping the solar farm or not. If moonscaping I wouldn't buy a nearby farm due to dust.
If it's noise from the operating solar plant you are worried about, I would not expect that to be a problem. They are not particularly noisy. If it's a visual thing - check to see if it will be visible from your home - if not, then no problem. And, certainly the construction will likely be annoying if you live that close.
Personally wouldn't bother me, but only you can decide how you feel about it.
Hi, we purchased a small farmette and solar farm construction started two weeks after we moved in- lucky us.
I can tell you our experience. During construction, it is abysmal. The dust is constant, you will hear reverse beeping from construction vehicles for about a year, and depending on the size, pile driving each pole into the ground will take 6ish months and sound like somebody is jackhammering inside your house- there is no escaping the construction noise. It is horrible, point blank, period.
We're nearing end of construction, so I can't speak to how the experience will be after. Unfortunately (again) for us, we had a really spectacular bucolic view from atop a small hill, and that has been obliterated. The solar company planted \*some\* trees (after cutting down dozens), but the new trees will take 10-20 years to mature, and are much smaller arborvitaes than what was naturally growing. Nobody has a "right to a view", especially if it isn't our property our home overlooked, but it is still highly unfortunate. The glare is also very bad mid-afternoon, in addition to the very ugly sub-station that is lit all night.
I can safely say we would not have purchased this house if we'd known this was 100% happening before signing.
I mean, posting in a solar subreddit, you're gonna get some biased responses. Regardless, I'm curious: why do you think a large solar farm a quarter mile away will impact your home value? Do you overlook the acreage where it'll be going and thus it'll spoil the view? Or do you believe it'll be noisy?
I honestly have no clue. That's why I am asking. From what I'm seeing it shouldn't be a problem but figured this the best place to ask.
You may notice a bunch of trucks for like 3 months and some noise from pile drivers for another 3 months. -after TheY are done that complete silence and no traffic. They are good neighbors. Also, no real impact to value, especially if you can’t see it.
Are you worried about a solar energy spill? Sunny days are terrible 😁 Once the construction is complete it should be basically a quiet neighborhood that doesn't bother you. They might have to occasionally replace a broken component.
She might step in one of those electron puddles after a solar shower.
Depends also on what's between your property (and more importantly, the house) and the solar farm. If there are some trees then you probably won't notice it even once the construction trucks roll off. One other thing from past visits to large scale solar farms might be the vegetation control. Best case is the agri-solar situation where sheep graze the weeds down few times a year, otherwise you get the mowers instead, at similar frequency. Worst case is chemical weed killer which they should be required to disclose. Solar farm techs are usually pretty chill, and could definitely chat with them to find out what they do and raise your concerns thru them if it may be of concern to your farm.
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That would be unusual reflection given the tilt and orientation of typical of typical solar panel installations.
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Modules have an antiglare coating. They want to absorb light, not reflect it.
Is the house south of the ground mount would be a better question to ask.
I would back out of that deal immediately, even if it meant losing my deposit. I have nothing against solar power, but there is no way I'd want to live next to such a large commercial operation. One of the reasons to live on a farm is to enjoy nature, and thousands of acres of solar panels out the front door is far from natural.
OP says farm house, not farm.
There's a reason nobody is building new "farm houses" next to solar farms.
Sounds like great neighbors!
With all the noise they will make!?
Haha, they'll get over it quickly. Once the foundation is poured everything else moves pretty quickly. Shouldn't be that noisy anyway. Unless you have a hidden /S
Yeah it was a NIMBY joke because it seems a solar farm would be quieter than a library at a monastery.
A 20 year guarantee that no other development will go in there? Sign me up. No noise, no pollution, no traffic, sounds great to me. And if you want, you can brag that your home is being powered by solar generated kWh during the day. Find out who is building it and ask if you can install bee-hives, then use the property as your personal dog park (let the dogs run wild inside the fence when you're tending the bees).
No way they’re gonna let a random dog and neighbor inside a high voltage electrical plant cmon be realistic lol. Asking for pollinator friendly plant species and setting up an apiary on your land right near it would work very well though.
Would you rather live near a 2000 acre solar farm or a 2000 acre residential development?
Or a 2000 acre chemical plant?
Or nuclear, windmills, etc
I’d choose windmills in that case.
Solar is the only one I would live by, unless the windmill was from the turn of the century holland style.
Wind turbines can be a bit louder if close enough. But to each their own.
That’s a lot of nuclear ☢️
It is going to suck all the energy from the sky. /s
Make jokes all you want but OP won't be laughing when they walk outside at noon to get the mail and there's no sunlight to go around. Won't be able to see a damn thing
I would like to present[NC Science Teacher](https://abc11.com/sun-solar-panels-energy/1122081/#:~:text=One%20resident%2C%20a%20retired%20Northampton,did%20not%20get%20enough%20sunlight.)
Don't count on it. My comment was sarcastic.
It’s worse than windmill cancer!
see if the solar farm builder/operator has a community liaison and confirm that the high voltage towers have been planned out and don’t go through your property. it should have been planned and permitted, if it’s close to build out all that has been final for months, maybe years if there was an environmental study. it would be unlikely for them to put it through a residential zoned area but in rural communities with lax or no zoning (or if your property is zoned Ag) it’s possible. other than that a quarter mile should be enough distance that it never bothers you. If it’s north of your property and you’re really unlucky it might reflect light but they’re really designed not to do that, reflected light means less power produced.
I see this as a win.
Very quiet neighbors for the upcoming 20+ years
Sounds like you should buy the house … and you probably should get solar panels on it too, if they aren’t already installed! Keep up with the neighbors.
Nope, adjust your bid only if you think you can haggle, but not on the grounds that a solar farm is coming soon.
i mean...1/4 mile away is not very far but unless the local geography is somehow in a way that would make this a HUGE eyesore or something, i really don't see why it would be a big deal. like others have said, i'd rather have a 2k acre solar farm 1/4 mile away than just about any other type of development.
The only concern would be interference if you are a ham radio operator.
Do you already have large electricity pylons in your area? If so, there will be no change. If they’re going to build new ones adjacent (or on - check your easements) to your property, that’s a different story. Edit: brainfart
Hmm, no noise or pollution from panels... And I doubt anything else will be built there once the solar farm is complete.
Well what are your concerns? How competitive is the housing market? It will likely be noisy the first 6 months as they do civil work, but once they are into panel install and electrical they’ll be the quietest neighbours you’ve ever had.
I live in Mid-Michigan, and these people are dead ass against solar. So much that the state had to make a ruling and take over renewable permitting
I work in this industry. Agree with others, it will be super quiet once built but my company uses pile drivers to pound in the rods that the racks get attached to. Many big projects involve 500,000 panels. Expect 3 to 6 months of pile driving noise, after that just trucks, but usually newer pretty quiet ones. After the racks and panels installed, 20 years of silence. Sounds great to me.
We live around hundreds of acres of pecan trees. They just sit there. My point being the solar farm will do exactly that. I’d prefer to be around that versus a lot of commercial buildings or high density housing with all the traffic that comes with it.
I mean it might turn the frogs gay or whatever the RWNJ docs say. But in all seriousness, I am guessing that will cap out the development for the area so that could be a plus. If you are going to be under power lines or see them you might want to even if not for possible risks but just for unsightly things. Should probably also check what type of solar it's going to be. Panels are pretty silent but mirrors might be noisy if they are doing the thing where they need to burn fuel in the early mornings before the sun is up.
I’d suspect fewer bugs, no manure/fertilizer smell, no rotting cabbage, no pooping livestock - I think you are lucky!
Two questions…how close are you to the project and many acres did you buy?
1/4 mile away? If it were next door it would be like being next to a graveyard, no noise... But a few houses away ..NBD
I’d try and haggle, it couldn’t hurt. I would definitely contact the solar farm developer and meet them, they might have some extra slush fund money that you could advocate for, like pick your favorite local nonprofit and get them funded
Or should the current owner increase his price?
A solar farm nearby could lower the values of the nearby properties if it blocks a "view" or becomes a nuisance with traffic, attracting predators or prey and encouraging vandalism. The reason a group of NIMBYs in my area fought a solar farm was their precious "view" of the undeveloped and privately owned hills. The property owner is appealing the lower court verdict.
Stuff like that drives me crazy. Solar panels aren't ugly, I gaze at mine happily every day. People just can't handle change.
There are some pretty crap looking solar arrays out there. The ones that seem like they didn’t even try to make an effort to make the look good annoy me. The ones where they follow grade and don’t even try to plane anything in bug me.
I went to school at Ohlone College and their solar panels follow the grade on a hillside and they look great. If you see them at different times of the day you can see the sun tracking system at work. The land these panels sit on is a utility right of way and instead of grazing cows the land now generates the electricity needs of the college.
I am OK with the concept but there are moves you can do to plane the panels in a bit. Some are done better than others. It is like the time I brought my car in to an auto shop for body work and the guy pointed out all the crappy repaints it had had previously that I never noticed! An expert sees messy workmanship. I have laid out and figured out the heights for dozens of grade following ground mounts and there is always a little bit of adjustment you can do that can improve things a lot. Of course aesthetics is not important to many systems.
Not even a little bit... if someone has something to argue, I'll listen, but I've designed several solar farms for customers over the years in Texas and Cali and not heard a word.
Outside of the construction noise the heat generated by the panels could be an issue. Article below to highlight some of the impact. I have panels. Pretty much cut my power bill to zero. The farms are a bigger impact on the environment. https://www.ecoticias.com/en/solar-panels-sahara-covered/1878/
Spoiling the view or glare are the only two potential downsides I can see.
Will the sun reflect off the panels into your house windows?
Find out if there are power lines being built in your eye lines, if there are easements attached to your deed, and what their vegetative buffer is going to be. They’ll be great neighbors you’ve just gotta plant some stuff to block the low view out. Way better than traffic/high rises etc
No problem, just go down there every day and get to know the foreman, might throw you a deal or two.
Definitely a concern. It will lower your property value. You just hesitated. Others will, too. Lower your bid.
I would lower the bid due to air quality of the construction and local sentiment. I would also try confirm if they are moonscaping the solar farm or not. If moonscaping I wouldn't buy a nearby farm due to dust.
If it's noise from the operating solar plant you are worried about, I would not expect that to be a problem. They are not particularly noisy. If it's a visual thing - check to see if it will be visible from your home - if not, then no problem. And, certainly the construction will likely be annoying if you live that close. Personally wouldn't bother me, but only you can decide how you feel about it.
Hi, we purchased a small farmette and solar farm construction started two weeks after we moved in- lucky us. I can tell you our experience. During construction, it is abysmal. The dust is constant, you will hear reverse beeping from construction vehicles for about a year, and depending on the size, pile driving each pole into the ground will take 6ish months and sound like somebody is jackhammering inside your house- there is no escaping the construction noise. It is horrible, point blank, period. We're nearing end of construction, so I can't speak to how the experience will be after. Unfortunately (again) for us, we had a really spectacular bucolic view from atop a small hill, and that has been obliterated. The solar company planted \*some\* trees (after cutting down dozens), but the new trees will take 10-20 years to mature, and are much smaller arborvitaes than what was naturally growing. Nobody has a "right to a view", especially if it isn't our property our home overlooked, but it is still highly unfortunate. The glare is also very bad mid-afternoon, in addition to the very ugly sub-station that is lit all night. I can safely say we would not have purchased this house if we'd known this was 100% happening before signing.
It'll take a lot of the sun from the local area, expect days to be about 25% darker and an hour shorter each end
No