Wicomico County weighs renewable energy infrastructure - 47abc - WMDT
Wicomico County weighs renewable energy infrastructure - 47abc
Wicomico County weighs renewable energy infrastructure
WICOMICO COUNTY – Renewable energy infrastructure has become a hot commodity in recent years, and recently, Nautilus Solar Energy announced a new facility in Wicomico County.
County Council member Josh Hastings says the body is eager to support projects that will support clean energy for the purpose of cutting down on burning fossil fuels. Increased levels of carbon in the Chesapeake bay has been linked to smaller crabs, and damage to local flora. Rising sea levels can bring more salt water into fresh waters, leading to ghost forests.
“We have to change our energy system as quick as humanly possible. That being said, we need to do that in a way that where we don’t lose that which is most precious to us here on the shore,” said Councilman Hastings.
Hastings added that it’s also important to make sure we aren’t losing farmland. He said in the last five years, Maryland has lost 12 thousands acres of farmland to the development of solar farms.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: renewables
Renewable energy sources — once the fuel of the future, then practical in specific, narrow applications — are increasingly economic mainstream sources of power generation. Hydropower was long the mainstay of U.S. renewable electricity generation, although wind power surpassed hydro for the first time in 2019, and solar continues its rapid growth. The continued growth of wind and solar, with their fluctuations, is tied in part to improvements in storage technology: batteries.