The American Planning Association published a very helpful Planning Advisory Service memo about the potential negative effects of large-scale solar projects on land use, especially in rural areas where agricultural and forestry land uses predominate.
Key topics addressed in the memo include:
- Impacts of large-scale solar on land use
- The economic factors to consider for large-scale solar
- Impact on agriculture and forested lands
- Future decommissioning costs
The full memo can be read online at this link or downloaded (for a fee) from the APA website.
Source: Darren Coffey AICP, “Planning for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Facilities,” American Planning Association, Planning Advisory Service Memo, Sep/Oct 2019, https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9184153/, accessed 20 Jan 2022
The APA’s Planning Advisory Service memo outlined several important economic considerations that should be weighed carefully in any decision to approve, modify, or reject a large-scale solar project. The economic factors involved are particularly important since the community itself will be responsible for paying in the end, should the developer fail to meet its promises. Here are a few key excerpts from the memo:
- This PAS Memo focuses on the land-use impacts of utility-scale solar facilities, but planners should also be aware of economic considerations surrounding these uses for local governments and communities.
- Financial Incentives. Federal and state tax incentives benefit the energy industry at the expense of localities. The initial intent of industry-targeted tax credits was to act as an economic catalyst to encourage the development of green energy. An unintended consequence has been to benefit the solar industry by saving it tax costs at the expense of localities, which don’t receive the benefit of the full taxable rate they would normally receive.
- Employment. Jobs during construction (and decommissioning) can be numerous, but utility-scale solar facilities have minimal operational requirements otherwise. Very large facilities may employ one or two full-time-equivalent employees. During the construction phase there are typically hundreds of employees who need local housing, food, and entertainment.
- Fiscal Impact. The positive fiscal impact to landowners who lease or sell property for utility-scale solar facilities is clear. However, the fiscal impact of utility-scale solar facilities to the community as a whole is less clear and, in the case of many localities, may be negligible compared with their overall budget due to tax credits, low long-term job creation, and other factors.
planning for utility-scale solar energy facilities, p 7
See also:
These quotes from the APA’s Planning Advisory Service memo flag how important it is to understand what happens to land used for large-scale solar projects after those projects have been removed. Most importantly, it is critical to ensure that the project owner will be held accountable for returning the land to its original condition. However, doing that will be a challenge for localities:
- A primary impact of utility-scale solar facilities is the removal of forest or agricultural land from active use. An argument often made by the solar industry is that this preserves the land for future agricultural use, and applicants typically state that the land will be restored to its previous condition. This is easiest when the land was initially used for grazing, but it is still not without its challenges, particularly over large acreages. Land with significant topography, active agricultural land, or forests is more challenging to restore.
- It is important that planners consider whether the industrial nature of a utility-scale solar use is compatible with the locality’s vision. Equally as important are imposing conditions that will enforce the assertions made by applicants regarding the future restoration of the site and denying applications where those conditions are not feasible.
planning for utility-scale solar energy facilities, p 4
See also: