Fields of electrons

White Post Road solar farm in Bath, NC

White Post Road solar farm in Bath, NC


I found a page about this solar farm in Bath, NC yesterday. It quietly generates 15.5 MW over 85 acres, selling the power to Duke Energy.

Earlier this year, Duke Energy shelved plans to build another reactor at the nearby Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant. The plant property encompasses over 20,000 acres. If Duke were to build a 20,000 acre solar farm on the Shearon Harris property it could generate over 3,000 MW of safe, clean electricity: more than that produced by 3 nuclear reactors. The cost would be about $3 billion, which is 1/3rd of what just one reactor would cost to build.

While nuclear plant construction costs continue to skyrocket solar PV costs continue to plummet. Which technology does it make sense to invest in?