Energy shortfalls could begin as soon as 2025 in the Midwest and within 10 years nationwide.
Solar and energy storage can be built in half the time compared with other energy technologies but require 10x more land.
Quick facts on solar
Efforts to balance large-scale solar projects with land and community interests are more important than ever as energy demand grows alongside public sensitivity to projects. Slackened solar development may reduce land-use tensions but would also limit community and landowner benefits from these projects and lessen the flexibility in addressing generation shortfalls. Guardrails can guide solar development to where it has the least negative impact on land well suited for farming, ensures that agricultural land where projects are sited can be farmed in the future, and promotes agrivoltaics solar projects to create opportunities for both farming and solar energy on the same land.
Only 0.05% of the continental U.S. would need to be covered with solar panels to power the country.
Farm groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation and American Farmland Trust are advocating for incentives to build on marginal land and further evaluating agrivoltaics (the multi-purpose use of land).
Rooftop or abandoned parking lot solar installations cost twice as much as open land.
100 MW solar generation
Urban development is shifting farmland 8x more than new solar panel installations.
Solar leases can provide landowners 2-3x the farm income per acre compared with growing traditional crops.
Efforts to balance large-scale solar projects with land and community interests are more important now than ever.
