Page 376 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 19 • Solar Panels in the Landscape 383

landscape. People’s perception of solar farms is affected by their predisposition toward
solar farms as a means of generating renewable energy.
Often the reaction to a solar farm is a reaction to the change to the site from its previous
state, rather than to the solar panels per se. A negative response can arise when the solar
farm is a change from the green field that the viewer remembers. This is in part because
green arable or grazing fields are seen as better—more natural, healthier, less industrial-
ized—land uses than solar farms. however, reactions can be different if the site was previ-
ously a brownfield or derelict site, such that the solar farm is seen as a better land use than
the site in its former state. This may also be the case with different proposals on the same
site. For example, a solar panel farm was proposed on an arable field in the south of Eng-
land and gained local support as it had previously been proposed as a windfarm site—the
solar panels were seen as a better option than turbines!
This highlights a key difference between solar and wind as renewable energy technolo-
gies. Wind turbines, by their very nature, must reach upwards to catch the wind resource
and are therefore tall structures. Wind turbines of 150–200 m to blade tip are becoming in-
creasingly common with technological advances and the pressure to increase yields in an
economy with decreasing subsidies. These are inevitably very visible structures, with even
“small” turbines such as those of novar Windfarm in Scotland (55.5 m to blade tip) being
visible in excess of 40 km in good viewing conditions, and larger turbines potentially being
visible from up to 50–60 km away [1]. Solar panels, in contrast, are low structures, with the
panels often only up to approximately 2.5 m off the ground. As low-level structures, they
do not have long-distance visibility in flat landscapes, and elsewhere effective screening
and appropriate use of the topography can enable the zone of visual influence to be very
contained, to within the site or within close proximity of the site only. In such cases, the
public can go by without knowing that the installation exists—quite a contrast to passing
a windfarm.
Another aspect of public reaction to solar panel farms is that solar panels are becoming
increasingly common on domestic buildings, and many people seeing installations can
relate them to solar panels on their own house or on the house of someone they know.
This brings an aspect of familiarity to solar panels and a sharing of renewable energy goals,
which allows some people to view larger installations in a more favorable light. Windfarms
too are becoming more familiar, but being visible over greater distances, may have a great-
er bearing on the character of landscapes and views, which exercises people’s opinions on
landscape change [1].

19.4 Environmental Issues in Planning

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) of development in the landscape considers the
potential effects of the installation on the proposed area and is a wide ranging assessment
covering many aspects of the environment, such as effects on landscape, visual amenity,
ecology, ornithology, archaeology and cultural heritage, noise, and socioeconomic effects.
The predicted effects of a large-scale solar panel installation will determine whether it is