The APA’s Planning Advisory Memo noted the importance of considering the overall visual impact of a proposed industrial-scale solar project, not just from neighboring properties but from scenic roads and hilltops to avoid negative impacts on the community and on historic areas:
The visual impact of utility-scale solar facilities can be significantly minimized with effective screening and buffering, but this is more challenging in historic or scenic landscapes. Solar facilities adjacent to scenic byways or historic corridors may negatively impact the rural aesthetic along these transportation routes. Buffering or screening may also be appropriate along main arterials or any public right-of-way, regardless of special scenic or historic designation.
The location of large solar facilities also needs to account for views from public rights-of-way. Scenic or historic areas should be avoided, while other sites should be effectively screened from view with substantial vegetative or other types of buffers. Berms, for example, can provide a very effective screen, particularly if combined with appropriate vegetation.
Planning for utility-scale solar energy facilities, p 5
The APA’s Planning Advisory Memo points out that concentrating large-scale solar projects disrupt an area’s overall land use patterns and negatively impact the community as a whole in these excerpts:
A concentration of solar facilities is another primary concern. The large scale of this land use, particularly when solar facilities are concentrated, also significantly exacerbates adverse impacts to the community in terms of land consumption, use pattern disruptions, and environmental impacts (e.g., stormwater, erosion, habitat). Any large-scale homogenous land use should be carefully examined — whether it is rooftops, impervious surface, or solar panels. Such concentrated land uses change the character of the area and alter the natural and historic development pattern of a community.
The attraction of solar facilities to areas near population centers is a response to the same forces that attract other uses — the infrastructure is already there (electrical grid, water and sewer, and roads). One solar facility in a given geographic area may be an acceptable use of the land, but when multiple facilities are attracted to the same geography for the same reasons, this tips the land-use balance toward too much of a single use. The willingness of landowners to cooperate with energy companies is understandable, but that does not automatically translate into good planning for the community. The short- and medium-term gains for individual landowners can have a lasting negative impact on the larger community.
planning for utility-scale solar energy facilities, p 5
These two maps use information from Dominion Power, Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and the PJM queue (required for developers to gain access to Virginia’s electric grid).
The first downloadable map shows just how many acres of land will be consumed by industrial-scale solar projects that are at various stages of planning by developers, if all these projects are completed in coming years. (Answer: over 498,000 acres, which equates to over 750 square miles.)
Virginia solar by number of acres
And the second illustrates how many solar panels will flood into Virginia, if all solar projects are approved and completed. (Answer: over 158 MILLION!) It’s worth asking where, exactly, all those panels will go when solar projects are dismantled.
