Solar Power Expansion Could Pose Ecological Risks

Solar Energy / Related Environmental Issues / Environmental Impact

Date posted: 10/22/15

Bobby Magill reports that solar power development is big business in sunny California, fueled by low solar panel prices and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change. Some biologists, however, are growing concerned that the placement of new large-scale solar power plants in the Mojave Desert may harm the biological diversity found there. A study published Monday shows that solar power developers in California have been using mostly undeveloped desert lands with sensitive wildlife habitat as sites for new solar power installations rather than building on less sensitive, previously developed open lands. The study, by the Carnegie Institution for Science and Stanford University, shows the ecological footprint of solar power development could grow to more than 27,500 square miles - roughly the land area of South Carolina - if the U.S. were to adopt a more ambitious climate goal. When thousands of solar panels are built in undeveloped natural areas, the panels crowd out wildlife and destroy their habitat. Solar takes out a lot of territory. It obliterates everything, University of California - Santa Cruz ecologist Barry Sinervo, who is unaffiliated with the study, said. There is as much plant biodiversity in the Mojave as there is in a redwood forest. The key part of this is, do we want to tile out the last largest wilderness area that we have, which is the Western desert? There are caveats to that, however - Though a 2050 greenhouse gas reduction goal has been adopted in California, the Obama administration current goal for the U.S. is to cut emissions by up to 28% below 2005 levels within 10 years. The study also does not account for increasing solar panel efficiency over time, something that is likely to reduce the amount of land needed to generate a megawatt of solar electricity.