Are solar farms really a threat to food farms?
Sprawling solar farms have raised concerns that renewable energy will harm food production in Canada — including in Alberta, where the province has paused approval of any large wind or solar projects.
In August, the Government of Alberta announced the moratorium would last until Feb. 29, 2024. At the time, it cited concerns about land use and reclamation, specifically the impact on agricultural, recreational and Crown land.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told CBC’s What on Earth in an interview in September: “We cannot be putting massive amounts of solar panels on prime agriculture land. That’s one of the things that we’ve heard loud and clear.”
She added, “These are taking up acres and acres and acres of prime farmland in some cases. And so we want to make sure they’re on marginal lands.”
But how much “prime farmland” would those projects take? Here’s a closer look.
Is solar really taking up lots of prime farmland in Alberta? Ian Urquhart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alberta, looked into the question in The Tyee last month.
He found most solar projects approved in Alberta between 2019 and 2023 are on farmland rated as “severe or worse” for crop production. (Farmland is rated based on limitations such as low fertility, rockiness or steep slopes.)
One project approved this past July, Creekside Solar Project in Leduc, is expected to occupy 127 acres of high-value “Class 2” agricultural land. However, Urquhart said that’s just “0.03 per cent of the best agricultural land in the country,” according to the developer, and sheep farmers and crop producers are interested in farming between the solar panels, a concept known as agrivoltaics.
The Alberta Electrical System Operator projects that Alberta would need to increase its solar generation capacity from the current 1.3 GW to 5.2 GW through 2041 in order to make the provincial grid net-zero emissions by 2035, as required by the federal government.
In a policy brief published last month, Hastings-Simon calculated that new generation would require 38,000 acres (154 square kilometres). While that sounds like a lot, it’s just 0.08 per cent of agricultural land in the province — “less than a tenth of one per cent,” Hastings-Simon said. |Read more https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/solar-farms-1.7025482| cbc.ca/news/science/solar-farm…
#abpoli #solar #grid #Net-ZeroEmissions by 2035 #ucp #smith #CliamteChange #sustainable.
