Increasing Power and Protecting Land in the Long Run
It is undeniable the United States is reaching dangerous power territory. To decrease costs and protect from inflation, more power plants are needed. How much land will be used and how it will affect the land is up to what types of plants are built. Solar uses land the most efficiently and does not harm the soil.
Solar has one of the smallest land footprints of all power generation technologies, yet one of the major fears we hear from residents is that solar farm construction will cause irreparable damage on local ecosystems. That cannot be further from the truth.
When measured as a snapshot in time, land needed for mining coal is less than land needed for solar, but over time, solar continues to generate energy whereas coal mining stalls. Operating a solar farm for 30 years makes the land’s energy output competitive with the same sized coal mine. Operate the same solar farm for 35+ years and solar surpasses coal and all other energy types by a landslide.
Mining transforms the existing landscape, destroys the soil, and removes ground vegetation. It also causes secondary land disturbances such as water contamination, land acidification, and deterioration of forests. Land reclamation is possible but very costly.
Unlike mining, solar uses land statically. Once built, there is no need for further extraction of resources.
Just like building any other energy generation technology, the landscape must undergo changes to develop a solar farm. During construction, the topsoil and subsoil is removed but proper management sees this soil stored and reapplied post construction. Civil construction for all solar farms is under heavy regulation. Runoff and erosion are monitored closely. In the off change that they are exacerbated during constructional, additional management techniques are required to be implemented.
After construction is completed, the ecosystem is not just restored but improved. Vegetation at a solar farm is managed to maintain the target plant community and to minimize shading of the panels by colonizing shrub and tree species. Under solar panels, the soil sits untilled for up to 40 years which rejuvenates the nutrients in the soil and reduces erosion substantially. One study found that a field powered with a corn-soy rotation would have 70x the erosion of the same field under a solar lease.
When a solar farm is decommissioned, the project site will be flat, have better drainage, healthier soils, and improved roads should the landowner choose to keep those built during construction.