Over the past decade the development of solar installations of all sizes has taken off across the United States and many other countries, though unfortunately, the construction of many of these facilities results in the destruction of forests and other ecosystems. There are obviously better location options for these solar arrays, but of course, short-sighted financial decisions are again trumping long-term ecological thinking.
In this post I’ll focus on the northeastern USA, and here a solar farm constructed in Hopkinton, Rhode Island resulted in the deforestation of 10 acres of land. Before and after pictures are shown below (all images in this post are from Google Earth):
A solar farm constructed in Seekonk, Massachusetts resulted in the deforestation of over 27 acres of land. Before and after pictures are shown below:
In addition to forests and other ecosystems, farmland has also been a favored target of solar farm developers. Here in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, approximately 17 acres of farmland was developed with a solar farm (see pictures below). The farmland is located only five miles from Providence, RI; and so it would be an ideal location for growing local food in a heavily developed metropolitan area. Given the financial pressures farmers are facing, many are not thinking twice about developing their farmland with solar arrays, but having the renewable energy industry and the local food movement competing against each other does not seem very wise. You can’t eat electricity. ZAP!
To avoid the destruction and disruption of ecosystems and the covering of much needed farmland, these solar arrays could easily be placed above existing large parking lots, as shown below at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts. Here, approximately 5-1/2 acres of a large parking lot were covered with solar arrays with room for parking underneath:
No deforestation or ecosystem disruption is required for these types of solar arrays. There are thousands of acres of large parking lots just in the small state of Rhode Island. The University of Rhode Island alone has approximately 50 acres of parking lots that could be covered with solar arrays. In addition, building rooftops are an obvious choice for solar arrays and large trucking warehouse rooftops can sometimes be up to 20-30 acres in size (yes, these buildings are enormous). Below are before and after pictures of a 10 acre grocery distribution center rooftop in Keasbey, NJ that had a solar array installed on the roof:
This area is already heavily developed with warehouses and parking lots, the ecological damage has already been done, and so we might as well use these places for solar installations. Many capped landfills have been developed with solar arrays and these are definitely another good option.
Obviously, solar farm developers have a much easier time negotiating a land sale or lease of open space versus trying to lease a parking lot or a building rooftop, but going after the easy to develop open land is pretty short-sighted. Financial incentives for developing arrays over parking lots and on rooftops and developers negotiating with companies and institutions with large warehouses and parking lots would help the situation.
With the precipitous decline in insect, bird, and amphibian populations over the past few decades, not to mention massive tree die-offs, the last thing we need is more habitat destruction, even for supposedly “green” energy.
Unfortunately, more than a few solar farm proponents and developers have been demonizing and labeling the anti-solar farm crowd as anti-renewable and NIMBYs. But the developers are, in reality, exploiting the allure of solar panels and positivity surrounding renewable energy to make a quick buck at the expense of longer-term ecological health and local food needs. It’s a shame.
More information here:
https://www.ecori.org/smart-growth/2019/1/7/solar-projects-continue-to-throw-shade-over-green-space
https://www.ecori.org/smart-growth/2017/5/25/energy-sprawl-targets-southern-ne-farmland-and-forests
The Soeller Panel 