Word of the Day: Solar farm
If I were to tell you that the above picture is a photovoltaic power station what would you say? Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s much easier to say solar farm because it’s not such a mouthful of words as photovoltaic power station.
These ‘farms’ have sprung up all over Japan, especially in the countryside on farmland that is no longer used for farming.
I’m not entirely sure, but I suppose it is easier to operate a solar farm than a rice or vegetable farm.
I guess if we think about it for a moment it makes sense to call a place which turns energy from the sun into electricity, a farm.
On a vegetable farm, people turn nutrients in the ground into things to eat.
On a solar farm, people turn rays from the sun into electricity that society can use.
They give new meaning to the expression make hay while the sun shines.