OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — 3 News Now reporter Jill Lamkins talks to Senior Professor of Engineering Dr. Bing Chen with the University of Nebraska about the solar farm being proposed for the Village of Brock.

• In August, neighbors learned of a large, 1,000-plus acre solar farm coming to their community.
• As an environmental advocate, Dr. Chen thinks solar farms like this should be dual purpose.
• “The problems with the monobiotic farms is that soils tend to be degraded, and you have a loss of the ecosystem.”

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Neighbors in the Village of Brock are saying no to a solar farm, but it’s coming anyway. This is a story 3 News Now reporter Jill Lamkins has been covering since August. The company, National Grid Renewables (NGR), told Lamkins when she visited the village last month that they want to be good neighbors, but residents still aren’t convinced. So, were bringing their questions to an expert in solar energy.

The Village of Brock is about an hour south of the metro, with around 120 people calling it home.

In August, neighbors learned of a large, 1,000-plus acre solar farm coming to their community — and it’s something they didn’t ask for.

“They can start on fire, and it’s an electrical fire. What is that going to be putting off into the environment?” said Susan Piper, a resident of Brock.

The company proposing the farm, National Grid Renewables, has visited Brock a few times to share its plans with neighbors, but they still have a lot of questions.

“My major concern as being the assistant on the Brock Fire Department is emergency management as a whole, with fire being ours,” said Cory Jeanneret, assistant fire chief pf the Brock Fire Department.

To answer some of these neighbor’s questions, Lamkins spoke to Senior Professor of Engineering Dr. Bing Chen with the University of Nebraska. He’s been studying renewable energy since the 1970s and is currently working with students on a solar energy project of their own.

When we told him about the proposal for the Village of Brock, he had a lot of questions of his own.

“If there is a hailstorm, which is not that unusual here in Nebraska, or tornado or high wind, how quick is NGR going to respond to this?” he said.

Dr. Chen says that when solar arrays are broken down by weather events, toxic materials like cadmium, arsenic, and strontium can be exposed depending on how the panels are built.

“Some of these additives may not be particularly good for health, either of individuals or the environment,” said Dr. Chen.

As an environmental advocate, he thinks solar farms like this should be dual purpose — meaning arrays are higher than ground level so that wildlife can thrive and crops can be grown underneath.

“The problems with the monobiotic farms is that soils tend to be degraded, and you have a loss of the ecosystem.”

But he understands the barriers NGR might face in doing this because dual-purpose arrays are more expensive.

“There will be a cost differential to raise it higher. Are they willing to invest this for the betterment of the overall agricultural community of Brock?”

Dr. Chen believes solar energy is important to protect the future of our environment, but he also thinks there are better ways to make sure communities can continue to thrive.