Solar Panel Delivery 
Damaged Solar Panel 
Pallet of Solar Panels
As I mentioned previously, the Farm has no power or water onsite. Since the access road is 3/4 mile long, the costs associated with installing power from the local power company is upwards of $18k according to the previous owner. That seems like a very poor investment to us. Jamey has done extensive research on Solar Power Systems. He had planned and even wired our previous home for solar panel installation, although we did move before that was implemented. Our planned system will cost well under the estimated cost to just have power installed from the power company. And other than some minor maintenance, it will be free for years to come!
Jamey found an auction in January that had used solar panels up for auction in Florida. He bid on those and actually won the bid! We were so excited to get them at a reasonable price. Unfortunately the company who had listed them with the auction company could not be reached. After many attempts to pay for and schedule a pick up, the auction company released us from our obligation so that we could continue looking for other solar panels. For whatever reason, it just didn’t work out.
Jamey continued to search auctions for the solar panels we need to get started, finding some at another auction in Texas. We admittedly were a little weary the second time around. Fortunately, he did win the auction and this time we were able to pay for and schedule delivery. The delivery had to be made at our home in Ooltewah since we had no way to unload the panels at the Farm.
Inspection upon delivery revealed that several panels were completely shattered, rendering them useless. Fortunately, Jamey ordered a few extras so we will still be able to implement his design for our power grid. We successfully loaded the panels onto our trailer and set off to deliver them to the Farm.
Re-stacking the panels on the side of the road because they shifted! 
Unloading 
Unloading with Molly the Mahindra 
“Free” Power! 
A rare photo of me driving Molly
According to Jamey’s design, we will have enough panels to power our RV and a couple of other buildings we are working on. These will be mounted in a field and batteries will be used to store the power. It’s exciting to think we will be a self sustaining farm with solar power, well water, and food sources!
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