Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

KSC Solar Farms

Jason LaPanne, Ryan Marquis, and Riley Mason
Keene State College

Jason LaPanne, Department of Architecture, Keene State College; Ryan Marquis,

Department of Chemistry, Keene State College; Riley Mason, Department of Chemistry, Keene
State College.
Correspondence concerning this proposal should be addressed to Ryan Marquis, Email:
ryan.marquis@ksc.keene.edu

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Table of Contents

Summary
Introduction
Pros
Cons

Methods
Participants
Design
Procedure

Page 3
Page 3
Page 4
Page 6
Page 9
Page 9
Page 9
Page 10

Conclusion

Page 11

Works Cited

Page 11

Budget

Page 11

Summary
Introduction:
Across the globe, there is a movement to utilize renewable energy sources rather than
fossil fuels, which are well known to be harmful to our environment. Fossil fuels such as
gasoline, for example, have been directly linked to the growing issue of global warming. This
issue has arisen from greenhouse gasses, which are released every time someone burns fossil
fuels to drive a car, to heat or cool a building, or to run a factory. Many alternative energy

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

sources are being tapped into in order to combat this issue. Energy from wind, solar, geothermal,
hydroelectric, and biomass sources have begun to put a dent in our fossil fuel dependency;
however, these sources come with their own pros and cons.
One of the more common renewable energy sources is solar power. In 1905 Albert
Einstein published a paper regarding the photoelectric effect in addition to his theory of
relativity. He later won a Nobel Prize for his theories about the photoelectric effect. These
theories were proven by experimental evidence in 1916 by Robert Millikan. The photoelectric
effect is the basis for solar energy. As sunlight shines onto the panel, electrons become energized.
These energized electrons are then free to flow as electricity. In 1954 Daryl Chapin, Calvin
Fuller, and Gerald Pearson developed the solar cell. The first model was 4% efficient. By 1994 a
30% efficient solar cell had been created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.
Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy n.d.). To say that this
technology evolved rapidly is an understatement. The work of countless scientists made solar a
feasible power source. In a little over 100 years, weve come from theory to huge fields of solar
panels.
One of those huge fields of solar panels is located in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The
first and only solar facility in New Hampshire was opened in November of 2015. This was a
monumental achievement for such a small town to install a solar facility. Historically, the Town
of Peterborough has been committed to being very environmentally conscious. Their work on
this major project has created a great model, that could be replicated elsewhere.
Pros:
With any new advancement, there are pros and cons to the surrounding community.
Certainly, the addition of a lot of solar power would lower the carbon footprint of that town. For

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

example, since the inception of the solar facility in Peterborough, NH the emissions avoided
include 508,425 lbs CO2 (SunEdison Connect, n.d.). Peterborough is really a shining example of
a community uniting to reduce their carbon footprint.
The land chosen to build the solar facility on was actually located beside a wastewater
facility, which means that the land was useless otherwise. This huge open field that could no
longer be used for residential development was utilized in a creative way to provide a resource to
the residents of Peterborough. Empty lots such as this one exist all across the United States.
Reimagining the way the land in a town is used can take an otherwise useless plot of land and
turn it into a resource that can be used by many.

Figure 1: Blueprint used in planning solar facility in Peterborough, NH.

The Peterborough Solar Facility, which is the largest solar facility in the state of New
Hampshire, has brought high praise from several different green organizations. Peterborough
received the 2014 National Award and Recognition as an EPA Green Power Leadership

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

Community: Green Power Purchasing Award. Theyve been certified as a Green-e community
working towards lowering their carbon emissions. Peterborough was also recognized among
100,000 other nominees for Special Achievement in Geographic Information Systems for using
these programs to better the world (Peterborough Administration, 2016).
The cost of this solar energy is significantly lower because of the deal that the Town of
Peterborough has with the company that owns and runs this new solar facility. The solar facility
was built by Borrego Solar who is the American branch of a Taiwanese Company. The town of
Peterborough on average has 197 days of direct sunshine that will now be used to make
electricity for the whole town.

The opening of this plant also created construction and

maintenance jobs, which is beneficial for the local economy. The solar plant itself was built on
top of unusable land that was originally a wastewater treatment plant, making use of a huge plot
of land that would otherwise remain unused.
Cons:
Despite the overwhelming number of pros to solar energy, there are also some cons to be
cognizant of. In 2014, a forensics lab in California received a considerable number of bird
carcasses, which came from three solar facilities. These birds were noticeably singed, to the point
where the birds would have been unable to fly (Errecart, 2014). The injuries the birds sustained
are the result of flying through the solar facilities. However, these were a different type of facility
then what was built in Peterborough. These facilities are bigger and more expensive.
The Peterborough plant was built using no taxpayer dollars, but the cost of a facility like
this could be a barrier to a town. The Town of Peterborough received a $1.2 million grant from
the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. There is a lot of private and public funding that
can be taken advantage of to try to combat this issue. The Ivanpah Solar Electricity Generating

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

System in California was a $2.2 billion project. It was funded by government funds, NRG
Energy, Brightsource Energy, and Google (Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System 2013).
The drawbacks to the particular solar panels used at the Peterborough plant is that the
panels themselves were produced by a company based in China. This may not sound like a major
problem since most things are made in China; however, the production of solar panels can be
extremely detrimental to the environment:
The initial refining turns quartz into metallurgical-grade silicon, however
turning metallurgical-grade silicon into a purer form called polysiliconcreates the very
toxic compound silicon tetrachloride. The refinement process involves combining
hydrochloric acid with metallurgical-grade silicon to turn it into what are called tri
chlorosilanes. The tri chlorosilanes then react with added hydrogen, producing
polysilicon along with liquid silicon tetrachloridethree or four tons of silicon
tetrachloride for every ton of polysilicon (Mulvaney, 2014).

This process of making solar panels is found all around the world. However, when solar
panels are made in countries in Europe or the US they are required by law to take care of the
waste in a responsible way. This is the major problem with the panels that are produced in China,
when the silicon tetrachloride is produced the waste can be repurposed and recycled, but this cost
a lot of money and time. This means that in places where laws are not in place that require the
proper disposal of this chemical the companies will usually take care of them in the least
expensive ways. All the waste that was produced was more than likely dumped in ways that
would never be allowed anywhere else around the globe due to how harmful these chemicals are
to the environment (Nunez, 2014).

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

Another interesting drawback regards the company that made the solar panels
themselves. Borrego Solar is the American branch that built the solar facility in Peterborough,
which is also partly owned by Walsin Lihwa, a Taiwanese cable manufacturer. The important part
in this is about the Taiwanese company. Upon further research, it turns out they specialize in
metal cable production, not in solar panels. This fact can be seen in Figure 1 below which shows
the Top 5 solar panel manufacturing companies in China and the company that made the solar
panels that are in Peterborough is not listed anywhere. This means that this company is making
solar panels when they don't even specialize in this production. This could lead to the unsafe and
and improper dumping of any byproducts such as the earlier stated silicon tetrachloride.

Figure 2: A chart of the top 5 solar panel manufacturers in China

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

The drawbacks to the solar panels being made in China are related to human safety. The
quartz is extracted from mines, putting the miners at risk of one of civilizations oldest
occupational hazards, the lung disease silicosis (Mulvaney, 2014). This is an easily avoidable
problem with the right safety laws and other safety devices, such as respirators. However, in
China these laws don't exist, and workers are forced to work in conditions that are very
dangerous to their health, and also don't have access to safety devices such as respirators. These
are glaring human rights and safety problems that occur in very few places around the world and
China is one of them.

Methods
Participants:
The members of the Keene State College Solar Farms group consists of Riley Mason,
Ryan Marquis, and Jason Lapanne. The group has collaborated with Keene State College
Professor Dr. Kristen Porter-Utley and Peterborough Department of Public Works Operations
Manager Seth MacLean.
Design:
This project will be a study of the solar facility in Peterborough, NH regarding the pros
and cons of a solar facility being built in a community. This study has revealed multiple pros and
cons that a town could look at and take when they are deciding to go solar. This information
could help other towns take advantage of solar power, as this could be a major resource to

Running Head: KSC Solar Farms

anyone that is looking to build a solar facility. So what this project hopes to accomplish is to
make all this information easily available to a community, this is important because all this
information can be found on the internet but it's never been compiled all together in one place
before like this.
One of the most important steps will be visits to the Peterborough Solar Facility. Visiting
the facility will allow for good observations to be made about how the facility runs and its
impact on the Town of Peterborough. Conversations with those that were on the ground floor of
designing the facility or running the facility are crucial. These observations are those that cannot
be made over the phone or via the internet.
Another key aspect will be to talk to the community. It will be essential to hear the
opinion of people from the town. This will give us some insight into whether the cost of this
energy is truly less expensive to the people of Peterborough. It will also give us an interesting
perspective into how they see the facility fitting into their community. It may uncover pros and
cons that we were originally unaware of.
Procedure:
One of the key aspects of this entire study will be to visit the Peterborough Solar Facility.
To date this is something that has been offered by the Town of Peterborough, but the logistics
havent worked out as of yet. The group of people that go out to the facility will need to make
several observations. These will include any adverse impacts on the community as well as any
unforeseen benefits that arent available online.
On top of this, it will be important to get good data from the community. This can be
done in several ways: personal interviews, survey, and/or local newspaper ads. The community

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will provide comments and information that cannot be found online. Their insight is necessary to
really paint the full picture of the impact on the entire Town of Peterborough.
The way that we have decided on obtaining this information from the community is by
going around to local businesses in Peterborough. This will be easy enough to do, we will simply
walk from business to business and ask the owners or any workers about how the solar facility
has affected them and if they have really noticed a difference.
What all this work is going towards is the making of a website that can be accessed and
used by towns. This is the main goal of the project, is to make all these pros and cons public and
available all in one place. All the information we have can be found on the internet but requires
lots of searching. So this website will be the one source that a community would need to look at
when deciding on building a solar facility, they can use the pros and cons to weigh their options.

Conclusion
In the end, the purpose of this project is to really give a complete overview of a solar
facility that includes pros and cons. This project is based on the solar facility that was built in
Peterborough, NH and how they were able to make it affordable and acceptable to the
community. Peterboroughs facility has been very beneficial because it drastically brought down
the cost of electricity for its population. The solar facility project was so widely accepted that in
the opening town hall meeting for the facility they received a standing ovation, a rarity in local
politics. It can be seen that a solar facility can and has been beneficial to a community. The focus
of this project is to get the information out there so that others can take advantage of this
renewable resource.

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Budget

Item

Cost

Transportation

$100

Weebly Website

$21 per Month

Works Cited
Atkin, E. (August 25th, 2014). CHART: How Many Birds Are Killed by Wind, Solar, Oil, and
Coal?. Retrieved September 18th 2015 from
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/25/3475348/bird-death-comparison-chart/
"CEO Interview: Borrego Solar's Mike Hall." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
"Chinese-owned Solar Farm Costs Ratepayers $122M." Watchdogorg RSS. Franklin Center for
Government & Public Integrity, 16 June 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
Errecart, M. (April 11th, 2014). Forensic Lab Report Evaluation. Retrieved September 17th 2015
from http://docketpublic.energy.ca.gov/PublicDocuments/09-AFC07C/TN202013_20140411T155507_Forensic_Lab_Report_Evaluation.pdf
Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. (2013). What If We Could Deliver on Solars
Promise?. Retrieved September 19th 2015 from http://www.ivanpahsolar.com/
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (November 20th, 2014). Ivanpah Solar Electric
Generating System. Retrieved September 18th from
http://www.nrel.gov/csp/solarpaces/project_detail.cfm/projectID=62
Nunez, C. (2014, November 11). How Green Are Those Solar Panels, Really? Retrieved April 5,
2016, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/11/141111solar-panel-manufacturing-sustainability-ranking/

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Peterborough Administration. (2016). Town of Peterborough NH. Town of Peterborough. Web.

Retrieved April 5th 2016 from http://www.peterboroughprojects.info/
"Spring and Fall Migration Timetable." Spring and Fall Migration Timetable. American Birding
Association, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
SunEdison Connect. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2016, from
https://connect.sunedison.com/SEConnect/
U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The History of Solar.
Retrieved September 17th 2015 from
https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf