Opposition to industrial-scale solar power plants is growing. At least 75 large solar projects were vetoed in the US last year, down from 19 in 2021. And between January 2021 and July 2022, 23 new solar farms in England, Wales and Scotland were refused planning permission, while just four projects were refused. Between 2017 and 2020, this is the highest rejection rate in the last five years. Decommissioning is in some danger of being blocked by planning objections. People often don't want solar farms in their backyards.
However, France seems to have a solution: turn its parking lots into nationwide solar power plants. The French Senate has passed a bill requiring at least half of the more than 80 new and existing spaces to be covered by solar panels installed in parking lots. Assuming the law goes into effect later this year, parking lots with more than 400 spaces will be in place until 2026; Smaller ones, with 80 to 400 seats, will be available by 2028.
Because they are wide and cover large areas, parking lots are obvious candidates for becoming solar panels. But this is only part of the possible benefits. It also makes sense aesthetically and logistically. mass parking lots are adjacent to energy-intensive urban areas, and large stretches of asphalt are difficult to make unattractive. Providing clean electricity without wasting space doesn't make sense, says Joshua Pearce, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Western Ontario.
Solar panels require a lot of space to generate significant electricity, so a popular strategy until now has been to spread large numbers of PV devices across sparsely populated and undeveloped areas. There the land is cheaper, and there are fewer inhabitants to fight, and the panels in this design are easier to use. However, there is a cost. rural solar farms use other land, including agricultural land, and can have a detrimental effect on local ecosystems. For example, Artin's 2,300-acre solar project near Boron, California, will destroy 4,276 western Joshua trees during construction.
The transmission of electricity generated from rural areas to urban environments requires cable infrastructure, which is expensive, unattractive and inefficient. Even in a properly maintained network, energy is lost when power is transmitted over long distances, and these losses increase with temperature. "With climate change, you see energy losses," Pearce said.
Therefore, the installation of PV devices near urban areas has a real appeal. if you can do it without resistance. And a promising strategy is the search for space in the city districts themselves. From rooftops and vacant lots to industrial sites and airports, there are places in and around every city where solar panels could theoretically be deployed. A 2015 study concluded that between California's cities and other developed areas, there is enough solar potential to power the state three to five times over. Meanwhile, Germany introduced tax breaks for those using rooftop photovoltaics. “To solve the climate crisis, we need to install as much solar energy as possible, and some of it needs to be universal, meaning that we don't just use the Earth for production. electricity,” says Alex Nathanson, founder of solar design studio and educational platform Solar Power for Artists.
