Solar Energy Panels Land Impact

Using solar energy can have a positive indirect effect on the environment when solar energy replaces or reduces the use of other energy sources that have larger effects on the environment.

Solar energy panels land impact. Currently the transition seems a logical and profitable venture since payments made by contractors are much greater than revenue received from farmland rental. The decision to transfer land use from agricultural production to solar panel electrical production solar farms should be made by careful examination of immediate and long term potential risks and benefits. Such facilities use vast swaths of land for solar gathering and generating equipment. Having vegetation underneath and around solar panels can reduce the levels of dust and soiling on panels.

Solar farms are large scale collections of pv photovoltaic panels spread over one to 100 acres of land. Land can be reverted back to agricultural uses at the end of the operational life for solar installations. This means that for a 1mw solar pv power plant the area required is about 2 5 acres or 100 000 square feet. We often overlook the impact that solar energy can have on water consumption.

In and of themselves they release no harmful atmospheric emissions. However land impacts from utility scale solar systems can be minimized by siting them at lower quality locations such as brownfields abandoned mining land or existing transportation and transmission corridors 1 2. Without efficiency and reasonable limits to energy use solar and wind power only benefit the environment so much. Washington d c with mounting vigor for combating global climate change increasing the use of renewable energy resources such as solar without compromising natural habitats is a challenge to the traditional model of utility scale solar energy installations.

For a typical solar installation the general rule of thumb is that for every 1kw of solar panels needed the area required is approximately 100 square feet. Solar panels can take up large chunks of desert previously used by a host of wildlife from pronghorns and tortoises to coyotes and rattlesnakes. Homeowners and solar power companies need to clean their solar panels at regular intervals. However some toxic materials and chemicals are used to make the photovoltaic pv cells that convert sunlight into electricity.

Smaller scale solar pv arrays which can be built on homes or commercial buildings also have minimal land use impact. Therefore in this instance the impact of land clearance does not apply. Capturing the sun s energy to generate electricity they feed into local and regional power grids regulated by public utilities. Can my land be converted back to agricultural land after the life of the solar system.

Such installations make use of land that has already been cleared for construction purposes. Solar energy systems power plants do not produce air pollution water pollution or greenhouse gases.