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Directory:SHV:White Hill Solar Farm

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A concept image of what the Safe Haven Villages at White Hill 90-acre property would look like with a five-acre solar array, generating around 2.5 MW at peak.

by Sterling D. Allan
Agent for Safe Haven Villages
Sept. 13, 2010

Note: The numbers represented here are not certain and are likely to be revised.

We at Safe Haven Villages are in process of considering installing five acres of fixed photovoltaic solar panels on our 90-acre parcel of land at White Hill, north of Ephraim, Utah. It is roughly estimated that the entire array will produce a total maximum of 1.75 megawatts at peak output, with the average peak being closer to 1.6 MW. The estimated annual output of the panels is 597 megawatt-hours per year per acre, for a total of 3.0 gigawatt-hours for the five acres per year, or 8.2 megawatt-hours per day, assuming an average solar exposure of 4.2 hours per day. That is enough to power around 260 homes. [1] This will require installing two more lines for three-phase power where there is presently a single-phase power line along the county road next to the property, joining a three-phase line about three miles to the West. Each panel will be 4 x 6 feet, black, non-reflective, producing around 200 Watts.

Below are some photos showing the proposed acreage for the 5-acre solar farm. The land is nominally smooth, sloping to the south, with about a 4-5 percent grade, with a slight inclination (maybe 1-2 percent) to the east, with little vegetation. There is a small gully that runs south through the east end of the plot.

House plots will be located up in the trees near the base of the hill. A walipini greenhouse project will be situated on 20 acres in the southeast end of the property.

The southern slope of the land is likely to make up for the loss of morning and evening sun due to the eastern mountain range and the western hill. This solar farm is one of about 20 being put in around the Utah region, so the spacing of the panels will be per a general plat, not engineered specific to this property. The general plat assumes a level surface, and spaces the rows 48.4 inches, to optimize the summer-winter exposure and usage of real estate, with some loss in the winter due to shadowing on the bottom of the panel from the one in front of it. Generally speaking, that spacing results in an average exposure year-round of 4.2 hours, down from 5.4 hours if there were no shading. Our southern slope will reduce that loss.

The array will be surrounded by an 8-foot fence. The transformer will be 98" x 90" x 35" inches in size. There will be two inverters in a case, covering an area 10' x 30' feet. (Note, these numbers will be different, as they are relevant to a 2-acre array.)

Ownership of the Safe Haven Village solar farm will be by a new entity being formed, White Hill Solar Farm, LC (WHSF), a subsidiary of PES Network, Inc.. They will lease the land from Safe Haven Villages. The management team for the larger project with which WHSF will be doing a joint venture is Green Step Solar Farms, LC.

1 Topographical Map
2 Labeled Photo
3 Photos
4 Contact
5 See also

Topographical Map

Satellite view of the same section, to the same scale.

Each line is 40 feet.

Labeled Photo

A rectangular, red line is shown framing the proposed five acre plot.

Notice that there is very little foliage on the south end of the property -- a very few juniper trees, and some sage brush. The soil is alkaline and high in clay content.

The proposed solar acreage is offset from the road, giving distance between this county dirt road and the panels. We would need to do some kind of dust mitigation on the county road to prevent the local traffic (low volume) from kicking up dust, primarily from the south-east approach.

Photos

In taking these photos, I began up on the hill north of the proposed 5 acre plot, then walked down the east side, then along the south, then up the west, skipping over about 150 feet to take some photos of a gully that goes through the plot, then ended up on the north-east corner.

Enlarged versions of all these photos are on file and can be produced upon request. Just submit the image file name.

Climbing the Hill

I shot these photos while climbing the hill north of the plot.

This one is zoomed out, showing the mountains to the south.

View from the Hill

Here's looking south down on the plot.

Entire Property from the Hill

The next two photos are looking east. You can see our primitive dirt road coming in from Little Pigeon Hollow Rd.

The mountain probably cuts out about an hour of morning sun, compared to if the array were situated without any mountain or hill to the east.

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Here's looking south-east. You can see part of the proposed solar plot on the right.

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Here's looking at where the proposed solar plot is. The same photo is shown above with the plot marked in red.

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Looking more southerly, with the solar plot to the left.

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Here, looking mostly south, slightly east, the proposed solar plot is barely out of the photo on the left.

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This is looking southeast. You can see the southeast corner of the property.

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Here's a zoom of the same area:

View of Ephraim from the Hill

The following photo was taken from the same vantage point as the above photos. Here, you see the city of Ephraim, situated south east of the property. The three-phase power runs north out of Ephraim, about three miles west of the property.

Walk-Around

This is looking S-S-W, with the solar farm plot to the left.

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Looking east, across the northern portion of the proposed solar farm plot:

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Looking east, a little further down.

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The fence along the southern border of the property is seen on the right, with the proposed acreage to the left, looking E-E-N.

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Looking north-east from near the south-east corner, from behind the fence.

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Looking north from the middle of the south end of the plot.

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Looking north, where the road begins running along the south-east end of the property. There is a cattle guard just where this intersection begins, of the southern fence with the road.

Power-Line / Entrance

Presently, there is a single-phase power line that runs along the road on the south-east end of the property. Three-phase power is around three miles away, west of highway 89.

Here is a photo of the same cattle guard area shown above, this time looking west along the south fence.

We would most likely cut the road into the project where the fence is on the right, north-east of where the cattle guard is.

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Here is a close-up of the power line and insulators seen in the above photo.

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Looking north-east up dirt road, with acreage on left. The power line crosses the road to the right at this point. The pole in the center of this photo is the one we would most likely tie into for the project.

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A close-up of the lines and insulators on that pole.

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Looking north, with the tie-in pole on the right. The proposed acreage is on the left.

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The identification numbers posted on the pole:
Pacific Corp
114-16-03#
246000

The silver icon underneath says: Primary 2009; Lite-Fume(?)

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Looking due west, with pole to left. Note the hill on the west, which will provide some shading in the evening, causing the sun to "set" maybe ½ hour earlier than if the array were situated without any mountains or hills.