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Solar Panels in the Landscape

Beatrice Dower
MVGLA, COMRIE, UNITED KINGDOM
beatrice.dower@mvgla.com

19.1 Introduction

People attach value to the landscape around them, whether it provides a functional role
as agricultural land, recreational open space or the setting for their local community; or
invokes an aesthetic response to scenic views, dramatic topography, or a familiar place [1].
These values, either openly acknowledged or unexpressed, are tested when change is pro-
posed. People can react strongly to change when landscape they value is threatened with
development, particularly if the landscape in question is local to them. Solar photovoltaic
(PV) panel installations are becoming increasingly common in response to the need to
generate renewable energy as part of the measures being taken to combat climate change.
Installations can range from a few panels on a house roof, to large areas taken over by ar-
rays. In this chapter we will discuss how PV solar panels affect the landscapes around us,
and how the design of installations can be modified to provide “best fit” with the landscape.

19.1.1 What Is Landscape?
The landscape is the environment around us that forms the setting for our daily lives. The
landscape we experience has character—made up of the topography, vegetation, land
use, and elements than give the landscape structure and pattern, such as field boundar-
ies, trees, and roads. The European Landscape Convention defines landscape as “an area,
as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natu-
ral and/or human factors” [2]. This definition takes in the perception of the area by the
viewer as well as the physical elements that form it. The perception of an area can include
a response to how the landscape is used, or could be used, and the values that the viewer
places on aspects of the landscape. The European Landscape Convention also gives value
to the landscape as a resource in its own right and reminds us that it is not just scenic areas
that have value, but the degraded landscapes around our cities are important in their own
way, as are the remote places that we will never visit but we know are there.
Opinions on land use vary widely; some prefer untouched vegetation, grassland, or
forest; for others the green fields and hedges of a productive verdant area are seen as
the “ideal countryside,” while yet others may see a landscape with a more intensive or

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