Roanoke Times: Solar farms in Virginia muddied with erosion problems
Looking for solutions
When raindrops fall on a solar farm, they hit impervious photovoltaic panels that are positioned at an angle to best capture the sun’s rays.
“You have a little waterfall falling off the side of that panel,” said Jenya Meydbray, chief commercial officer of Nevados, a company that designs solar equipment. Sheets of water from thousands of panels hit the ground and converge into gullies, which worsens erosion.
To solve that problem, Meydbray’s company has developed a “rain stow” system that uses sensors to detect heavy rainfall and automatically moves the panels to a near vertical position, exposing more ground and grass to absorb water.
Although none of the solar farm developers in Virginia served by Nevados are currently using the system, “we have had conversations about it,” Meydbray said. He expects at least one taker.
Nevados designs solar tracking systems, which tilt the panels to follow the sun throughout the day. An all-terrain tracker with flexible joints allows the racks on which the panels are mounted to follow the contours of rolling hills – eliminating the need for grading and other soil disturbance.
“I think the number one way to avoid erosion is to avoid grading,” Meydbray said. “If the grass is there, you’re not disturbing the site, you’re just working in harmony with the natural environment.”
Installation of the system at the Bartonsville Solar project near Winchester allowed developers to avoid excavating more than 400,000 cubic yards of soil, enough to fill 123 Olympic-sized swimming pools.