We took a slight detour off the Hume Highway at Glenrowan, to stop next to the huge solar…

…farm at Winton.

We have previously passed huge open cut coal mines, such as the one at Yallourn. Here are the differences we noticed:

1. The solar farm isn’t a big hole. It’s just a bunch of of posts that can be removed.
2. There’s no particles filling the air, causing respiratory issues.
3. At the coal mine, dozens of huge sprinklers kept pouring litres of water onto the coal face to suppress the dust.
4. There is no ongoing large machinery here, required to dig coal, and haul it.
5. Nothing gets burnt here. There’s no ongoing pollution or greenhouse effect.
6. The solar panels can work in harmony with agriculture. If you look closely at my photos, you can see sheep grazing in the grass around the panels. The panels provide shade that enhances vegetation growth. We didn’t see any sheep on the coal mine, or any living thing, actually 😞.

Of course, there is an environmental impact of the solar farm. It took energy to produce the panels, deliver them, and so on. If we had original bush here with native animals, that would be zero impact. But this land was already cleared, before the solar farm arrived. And agriculture continues here, perhaps enhanced.

Most importantly, each kWh of energy here, comes from the sun, with no additional fumes, pollutants, respiratory issues or greenhouse effects.

If we have to produce energy, then this is clearly a better solution than a coal mine, and a coal power station. Just ask some animals which they prefer.

Charging:

For kicks, we turned off our car’s trip planning. As expected, it started warning us that we wouldn’t make it home without charging. No problem: when we stop for lunch soon, we’ll charge up the car, provided by these solar panels ☀️.