What would you expect to happen to a site after the 30-year useful life of a solar farm?
Because the solar farm only minimally disturbs the land, the land can be returned to its native condition once the plant has completed its operational life. Most solar developers are contractually obligated to remove all equipment with no permanent damage to the land and will even seed the site to ensure that the Landowner has a nice, grassy plot at the end.
When the solar farm reaches its end of life, an alternative is to upgrade the PV array to state-of-the-art solar collectors while reusing the site’s existing investments in electrical gathering network, water control, and other site infrastructure. This lower initial cost for the second iteration should provide a competitive advantage.
