Photovoltaic farms a threat to European landscapes
The beautiful vision of green cities that currently dominates various advertising brochures, company websites or slogans scrolling at conferences has several shortcomings that we need to talk about. Imagine such a scenario - it's Saturday, and you're taking a bicycle trip near the city. You are riding on a comfortable, safe, level DDR, the weather is perfect. In a moment you are about to enjoy a unique view of suburban idyll. You drive out of town and... instead of beautiful views, you see a photovoltaic farm all the way to the horizon.
Instead of open, natural landscapes or farmland, you encounter monotonous rows of solar panels. I admit - I probably wouldn't have come up with such a scenario myself. Yet it is quite real, and it was suggested by Kinga Krauze of the European Regional Center for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences on the panel "Threats to European Landscapes: How to protect our cities?" at this year's Open Eyes Economy Summit.
a new vision of the future
We can quite easily imagine a future in which a house, block or office building has photovoltaic panels on its roof. Green energy should have been cost-effective, easy to apply and hosted by us years ago. However, this was not the case, and it is only a combination of EU guidelines, RES subsidies and rising prices for fossil fuels (resulting from the situation on our eastern border) that a revolution in energy generation is happening. In September 2023. Parliament backed a new target of 42.5% of energy from renewable sources by 2030. But EU countries are being encouraged to aim for a 45% target, which has also been endorsed by the European Commission as part of its REPowerEU plan. And this is where photovoltaic panels appear among the many solutions.
Increasingly, we can encounter factories and industrial plants, logistics centers and warehouses, shopping malls or wedding houses and hotels that have a field covered with panels - such a backdrop of panels is a photovoltaic farm. It offers significant benefits in terms of renewable energy generation. We are putting them up more and more willingly, there are even programs to encourage the placement of FV farms on agricultural land. For example, the Rural Development Program (RDP) is a farmer-directed strategy that allows subsidies for solar farms of up to 500 kW, on top of that the European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate, Environment (FEnIKS), supports large-scale photovoltaic projects, offering up to 85% coverage of eligible costs. And these are just a few of the many current programs that offer such subsidies. So we already know that money for such an investment can be found, but what do the regulations say about this?
A farm, but so different
A photovoltaic farm is a large installation consisting of a number of photovoltaic panels, placed on the ground, the purpose of which is to produce electricity from solar radiation. Both a farmer and a property owner in Poland can set up a photovoltaic farm on their land, but this requires obtaining the appropriate permits and meeting the law. Of course, it is necessary to analyze the local zoning plan (MPZP) or obtain a decision on development conditions (WZ) in which such an installation can be placed. The farm requires the preparation of a construction project and obtaining conditions for connection to the power grid. And here's a note - in the case of agricultural land with a high bonding class, it is necessary to exclude it from agricultural production.
Such an investment must also be reported to the power grid operator in order to sign a connection agreement. And finally, there is the environmental assessment, which may (should) be required in the case of larger investments, and these are, after all, farms.
A sea of panels?
Large photovoltaic panel farms require significant land areas. Poland's largest photovoltaic farm, Zwartowo , covers an area of about 300 hectares and can power about 153,000 households. It was established in 2022. Its capacity is 204 MW, with plans to increase it to 290 MW eventually. Such huge installations have an impact on the environment.
Zwartowo photovoltaic farm
Screen from Google Maps app
At such sites there is a loss of natural habitat for various species, disruption of local ecosystems and animal migration patterns. Significant is their fencing, which excludes large areas of land. Fences not only restrict human access, but most importantly, they are an obstacle to wildlife migration. In regions where farms are located in areas of ecological corridors, such barriers can disrupt local ecosystems, reducing biodiversity. What's more, fenced areas often preclude alternative uses, such as for recreational purposes, which is negatively perceived by local communities.
The construction of photovoltaic farms significantly changes this small, local climate. Studies show that air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation decrease, while humidity decreases. These effects are more pronounced in grasslands than in other terrestrial ecosystems. The changes in vegetation caused by changing environmental factors are spectacular, the researchers say.
lots of changes
During site preparation for photovoltaic farms, the natural ecosystem that exists at the site essentially ceases to exist. The panels are installed on the prepared site. First, the ground may need to be leveled, especially if the terrain is uneven, and most often it is also required to be properly paved. Then the site is secured by fencing. This is followed by the preparation of access roads, allowing access for heavy equipment and vehicles delivering installation components. The next stage is the construction of supporting structures. This involves the installation of racks, which are driven into the ground in the case of above-ground installations. In areas with difficult ground conditions, it may be necessary to use concrete foundations or other techniques to stabilize the structure. The final step is the installation of photovoltaic panels. The panels are attached to previously prepared support structures.
The placement of the farm is a complete environmental change. The mere disturbance of the humus layer changes the nutrient profile of the soil and negatively affects the entire ecosystem, the invasive action of erecting a farm degrades what is present in the plot. Added to this is the use of heavy equipment and the hardening of the soil. This reduces its ability to retain water, and it doesn't stop there. Also, the removal of vegetation makes the soil more exposed to wind and rain, leading to erosion. This, in turn, increases rainwater runoff and causes loss of sediment and nutrients. We should also add that the very way and distribution of land irrigation is also altered. The terrain under the panels becomes unevenly distributed - the moisture content is naturally higher under the lower edges of the panels, and lower directly under the slope of the panels. This leads to differences in soil hydration.
One of the problems is also the use of chemicals to clean the panels. In order to maintain the high performance of the installation, it is necessary to regularly remove dirt, such as dust, dirt and bird droppings. For this purpose, special preparations are often used, which contain chemicals that can get into the soil and groundwater. Looking for information about such preparations, I could not find information about i ch composition in many of the offerings. However, I managed to find a few, and on the label we can find, among others, such ingredients as fatty alcohol ethoxylates and ditallowdimethylamine chloride, which are hardly biodegradable, toxic to aquatic organisms and increase the risk of eutrophication and bioaccumulation. There are also compounds that in high concentrations can contaminate groundwater or produce volatile organic compounds that affect air quality. And everywhere we find a warning not to let the detergent come into contact with the skin. However, we don't mind pouring it on dried soil. So it is worth raising the argument that, especially in areas with low water retention or in agricultural regions, where photovoltaic farms are increasingly located, there is a risk of environmental pollution and may affect the surrounding flora and fauna.
Of course, we have some solutions by which this impact can be minimized. Measures such as installing sediment barriers, sediment basins and maintaining vegetation cover can significantly reduce erosion and sediment loss during the construction and operation of farms. Replanting the site with native vegetation after construction stabilizes the soil and improves its ability to hold water.
high costs
It is well known that panel production requires the mining of raw materials such as silicon, silver and aluminum. Extractive mining activities cause significant environmental degradation, including soil erosion, water pollution and habitat destruction. The production process itself is energy-intensive and relies on non-renewable sources of energy. This results in greenhouse gas emissions, which contributes to the overall carbon footprint of solar technology. The manufacturing process involves the use of substances such as cadmium and lead, which pose a threat to both human health and the environment. These materials can enter the environment if the panels are damaged or improperly disposed of.
second life yet to come
Since panels typically have a life span of about 25-30 years, there is growing concern about end-of-life disposal. Improper disposal can lead to contamination of landfills and surrounding areas. PV module waste is expected to reach 32.1 million tons by 2050[1]. However, recycling processes are not fully developed, and high costs and lack of global regulation discourage owners from returning them, resulting in low recycling rates and the risk of illegal disposal. It can certainly be said that current panel recycling practices are clearly inadequate.
don't get me wrong
It's not that farms shouldn't be made. Of course we need them. They are much more pro-environmental than traditional ones. They can be located in the spirit of more sustainable land management. Here the farm in Przykona appears as an example. It is located on land reclaimed from a former lignite mine. Its capacity is 200 MW. This allows it to power about 100,000 households. The farm covers an area of 270 hectares, which is not much less than the largest one. Photovoltaic power plants are a very important part of the transition to better energy systems, but in all this, their environmental impact cannot be overlooked.
None of the impacts are negative compared to traditional energy generation methods. In terms of footprint, large-scale photovoltaic farms require as much or less land per kWh of energy than coal-fired power plants over their entire life cycle[2]. Cutting down forests for photovoltaic farms results inCO2 emissions of up to 36g per 1 kWh, a significant component of solar power's lifecycle emissions, but still much smaller than emissions from coal power, which are about 1,100g ofCO2 per 1 kWh.
So what do we expect? Better planning, recycling methods and responsible management in maintenance.
Magdalena Milert
[1] Bošnjaković, M., Santa, R., Crnac, Z., & Bošnjaković, T. (2023). Environmental Impact of PV power systems. sustainability, 15(15), 11888.
[2] Turney, D., & Fthenakis, V. (2011). Environmental impacts from the installation and operation of large-scale solar power plants. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(6), 3261-3270.
