Renewable Energy Siting and Design

Comprehensive guide that outlines ground-mounted solar PV facilities and the factors to consider when siting, designing, and building solar farms on municipal solid waste landfills.

This document provides guidance to planners and the solar industry on how they can support biodiversity on solar farms.

Guidelines for the design and construction of solar farms to minimize negative impacts on bird populations.

For the farmer, a properly designed solar project can deliver electricity and/or income while supporting local efforts to preserve agriculture and move the state toward its energy goals. This short guide explains key considerations when siting solar panels on farmland and includes case studies.

This report provides data and analysis of the land use associated with U.S. utility-scale ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities. The report found total land-use requirements for solar power plants to have a wide range across technologies. Generation-weighted averages for total area requirements range from about 3 acres/GWh/yr for CSP towers and CPV installations to 5.5 acres/GWh/yr for small 2-axis flat panel PV power plants. Across all solar technologies, the total area generation-weighted average is 3.5 acres/GWh/yr with 40% of power plants within 3 and 4 acres/GWh/yr. For direct-area requirements the generation-weighted average is 2.9 acres/GWh/yr, with 49% of power plants within 2.5 and 3.5 acres/GWh/yr. On a capacity basis, the total-area capacity-weighted average is8.9 acres/MWac, with 22% of power plants within 8 and 10 acres/MWac. For direct land-use requirements, the capacity-weighted average is 7.3 acre/MWac, with 40% of power plants within 6 and 8 acres/MWac. Other published estimates of solar direct land use generally fall within these ranges.

Guide for planting native species on solar farms to mitigate the environmental impacts of installing solar energy facilities.

Plan to prevent water pollution, erosion, and land degradation at a solar farm.

The primary purpose of these principles is to inform and potentially guide solar energy developers, operators, and other stakeholders to site, construct, and operate solar facilities in ways that minimize impacts to natural ecosystems and biodiversity. We understand that siting of solar is a complicated process with many factors and criteria, and TNC is not attempting to address the comprehensive suite of criteria such as electric grid access, social issues, engineering, site topography, permitting requirements, and costs.

An enormous boost in solar energy production is one of the actions needed to stop the dramatic rise of carbon in the atmosphere and better ensure civilization’s long-term prospects. This guide explores issues that conservationists may want to consider in order to both advance their land conservation work and support solar energy development.

A discussion of some of the issues that solar developers and their counsel should consider when developing a solar energy project including with respect to land acquisition, solar resource analysis, permitting, transmission and interconnection. Although drafted from the perspective of project developers, this guide also includes information that lenders, their counsel and other project participants may also find useful.

Guide to mitigating potential negative environmental impacts of ground-mounted solar arrays, such as stormwater runoff, destruction of wildlife habitat, and soil disruption.

Guide provides links to a long list of resources related to siting and designing solar energy systems in a variety of settings.

The purpose of this policy brief is to provide an overview of the environmental review processes that most solar farms in the Southeast currently go through, and to provide examples of best practices that developers are embracing to maximize benefits and minimize environmental impacts.