Page 378 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 19 • Solar Panels in the Landscape 385

north-facing views over the site that will have visibility of solar farms that cannot be miti-
gated by local screening.

9.4.2 Effects on Land Use
The area that a solar farm occupies is an important consideration in most locations. As the
surface area of the installation determines the yield, utility-scale installations require large
areas of land. Solar installations take up considerably larger areas of land in comparison to
windfarms. A windfarm of 25 mW may cause approximately 12 ha of habitat loss under the
turbines, tracks, and compounds, with the land between the turbines (spaced for safety
and to avoid turbulence [1]) remaining intact and available for continued land use. A solar
farm generating 25 mW will take up approximately 50 ha, with a larger land-take in higher
latitudes. The loss of previous function for this land may be significant in determining
whether it gains consent.
The use of agricultural land for free-standing solar installations is a factor that planning
authorities need to consider, and guidance contained in the uK National Planning Policy
Framework [12] encourages the effective use of land by focusing large-scale solar farms
on previously developed and nonagricultural land, provided that it is not of high environ-
mental value. If a proposal involves “greenfield” land, it should be demonstrated that the
proposed use of the agricultural land is necessary (i.e., no nonagricultural land is avail-
able); that poorer quality land has been used in preference to higher quality land; and that
there are provisions for continued agricultural use where applicable and/or biodiversity
improvements around arrays (Fig. 19.10).
In some countries, large areas of nonagricultural land are under pressure for devel-
opment, with barren or desert landscapes preferred as there is little settlement and little
vegetation to disturb. While these landscapes are perhaps less affected than smaller scale
verdant landscapes, there are nonetheless impacts on the ecology and environment, rang-
ing from altering the soil ecosystems below the panels, to interrupting migration of spe-
cies across the area.
9.4.3 Other Environmental Issues

As set out above, landscape and visual matters are not the only issues that need to be con-
sidered for large solar installations. Although each area of environmental effect is a subject
in its own right, we can briefly explore the main challenges.
The introduction of panels alters the ecology of a solar farm site, by introducing differ-
ent habitats with varied shading from light to dark, varied water regimes with dry areas
below the panels that receive little or no rainfall and changes to the pattern of the land-
scape with corridors of vegetation along the arrays. The partial shade below the panels can
benefit species that seek refuge from the sun and different, shade tolerant plants can grow
below the panels rather than between the arrays. research is still needed as to how these
localized environmental changes affect the ecology in different settings, with great con-
trasts between these localized effects for solar farms set in temperate or desert climates.