Solar power is expected to dominate the global electricity market in the coming decades, and already accounts for three-quarters of renewable energy capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. BloombergNEF predicts that solar construction will increase by another 25% this year, adding more than 500 gigawatts of capacity.
Solar power requires a lot of space. It takes at least 5 acres to provide just 1 megawatt of electricity. That means a 200-megawatt project (approximately 3,000 panels) would require the space of 550 American football fields. This calculation is one reason why China, the world's largest solar power market, hosts so many projects in remote desert regions. That's why the IEA expects rooftop and residential solar power to expand faster than farms this year.
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“It's great to have [solar installations] in our communities,” said Massachusetts Department of Energy Secretary Bonnie Heiple. “Actually knowing where their power comes from can give people more impetus to make the kinds of changes in their daily lives that we're all looking for.”
As solar power gains momentum, its proponents are getting more creative with where to install panels. There are solar arrays on the rooftops of large stores, and solar arrays are also installed on yachts and floating solar power generation facilities. Some panels are small enough to be used on your balcony, and others are small enough to attach to your smartphone. To minimize land clearing, engineers are also working to incorporate this technology into existing infrastructure. From landfills to art installations, here are five surprising places where you can find solar farms, or at least strategically placed panels.
carport
There must be sufficient space in the parking lot or garage. Ben Jones, vice president of design and engineering at New York-based DSD Renewables, said adding a solar canopy can provide shade, safety and seamless charging for EVs. DSD is driving a project to add solar canopies to his 16 parking lots and garages at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and has installed nearly 200 megawatts of canopy projects across the United States since its founding in 2019. Ta.
He is also the architect of the 6.5-megawatt canopy project for Caesars Entertainment Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The project will provide approximately 6% of the energy used by the casino while providing shade on the top floor of the parking garage.
Jones says canopy projects can use land efficiently while also “expanding our thinking about where we can put solar power.” Regarding parking lots in particular, he says, “Most people avoid the top floors of multi-storey parking garages because they are quite high up and are easily exposed to wind and rain.It would be better to make effective use of that dead space.'' say. These types of projects can also meaningfully contribute to corporate and municipal renewable energy goals. “It's a very well-aligned statement, but it also reduces operating costs,” Jones says.
(retired) golf course
A shuttered golf course makes an ideal location for a solar farm. Clearing requires less work and the terrain tends to be relatively flat. There is also poetic justice in bringing renewable energy to places that once depleted water resources and damaged local biodiversity.
Calverton Links Golf Course in Calverton, Long Island, has an approximately 23-megawatt solar power project that opens in 2022, nine years after the course closed. The project is owned by National Grid Ventures, the venture capital arm of National Grid, which operates electricity grids in the UK and US. Will Hazelip, president of National Grid Ventures Northeast, said affordability and proximity to grid infrastructure are key to finding the best golf courses for solar power.
“We’re getting close to demand and we have quite a bit of space,” he says. “The challenge is finding that exact combination.”
floating solar power plant
To circumvent land constraints altogether, many countries are experimenting with floating solar farms. Costs can be high, including 40% more than land-based farms, according to BloombergNEF, but the large, flat surface with constant sunlight is attractive.
Hundreds of floating projects are being built on lakes and reservoirs around the world. Japan has dozens of small floating arrays, India has added large-scale operations, and facilities are being built in countries including Colombia, Israel, and Ghana. Last year, the nation's largest floating solar project came online in New Jersey, producing enough energy to power 1,400 homes.
Floating panels at the Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant in Short Hills, New Jersey.Image: Bing Guan/Bloomberg
In China, a large floating solar power plant in Huainan, eastern Anhui province, has more than 500,000 panels, enough to generate electricity for more than 100,000 homes. The cluster of panels is the size of 400 football fields and stretches across a man-made lake atop a former coal mine (more poetic justice).
Floating farms don't necessarily produce more electricity than land-based farms, but one study found that natural sustainability We found that more than 6,000 local power systems around the world could become completely self-sufficient with floating power plants.
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Landfills and decommissioned fossil fuel facilities
As climate change advances the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, there are increasing opportunities to experience this transition firsthand. Decommissioned fossil fuel facilities that already have access to the local power grid are good candidates for solar power plants, says Thomas Byrne, CEO of New York-based renewable energy company Clean Capital. .
“What a great story to be able to say, 'We all ignored this land, and now we're putting it back into use to power our future,'” Byrne says. CleanCapital owns and operates 300 megawatts of solar power capacity, including a solar farm located in a former steel mill in Buffalo, New York.
In the United States, the Anti-Inflation Act passed in 2022 includes incentives for companies to build solar power projects on brownfield sites (landfills and abandoned factories with severely limited opportunities for reuse). ing. Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced a program to encourage and support this type of change.
“That's dead space, otherwise you can't build on it. You might as well build a solar farm,” says DSD's Jones. Last year, DSD opened a 4.3-megawatt solar farm on a landfill in Bethel, New York. More than half of the electricity generated is supplied to local residents and businesses.
Massachusetts offers unique tax incentives to developers who install solar power on brownfield sites, and currently leads the nation in such installations. The state has 92 solar power plants located on closed landfills with a total capacity of 256 megawatts. According to the Massachusetts Department of Energy, solar power landfills offset more than 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2022.
solar art
Artist Elizabeth Monoan and architect Robert Ferry are the husband-and-wife duo behind Land Art Generator, an organization that holds competitions for solar art designers and connects winners with communities that provide public art grants. Launched in 2008, Land Art Generator currently has over 1,500 artist ideas for sale to communities around the world.
In San Antonio, Land Art Generator worked with JT Brackenridge Elementary School to create a solar panel mural celebrating the area's history. The art printed on the panels (pictures of his class of 1906 and his 5th grade class of 2020) only reduces his 4% of the energy that would have otherwise been generated.
Land Art Generator plans to unveil its 100-foot-tall “Arch of Time” in a Houston park next year. Designed by Berlin-based artist and architect Riccardo Mariano, the project is made of black solar panels that generate enough energy to power 40 nearby homes while providing shade. will generate. The installation also functions as a clock, projecting sunlight in alternating colors.
“We're at a point where solar is the cheapest way to produce energy, no matter where you are or how you slice it,” Ferry says. “It gives the industry some breathing room to explore new ways to design these infrastructures.”
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