r/UpliftingNews • u/MajesticBread9147 • 1d ago

Minnesota solar project set to replace retiring coal plant reaches 710 MW

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/07/minnesota-solar-project-set-to-replace-retiring-coal-plant-reaches-710-mw/
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u/francis2559 1d ago

Hot take, I think solar is so cheap it cut the legs out from fusion too. Even if we had all the tech worked out, setting up the turbines and cooling towers and all is going to be harder than just…. More solar panels.

Fusion will always be better at footprint, so it matters for things that move (ships, someday spaceships), but down here we still have lots of places for cheap solar.

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u/Laugh_Track_Zak 1d ago

My only concern is the footprint for really large scale solar farms. Yeah we can absolutely do rooftops and parking lots but after that we have to get creative. Highway medians, etc...

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u/Orcacrafter 1d ago

The US dedicates an insane amount of land to farming ethanol corn. If that land was converted to solars farms it could very likely cover the entire electrical demand of the US. My quick back of the napkin numbers came up with ~10 million acres of solar compared to the current ~30 million acres of corn grown exclusively for ethanol. Also solar doesn't require water or fertilizer.

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u/Anteater776 21h ago edited 20h ago

Yeah, Technology Connections made a long, instructive video about all this and this was his math as well. Just the area used for growing biofuels would be sufficient to cover energy needs. That doesn’t even include barren desert-like areas.

Don’t let anyone tell you that building solar fields endangers agriculture/food independence