Land use scale standard for photovoltaic energy storage power station

Are utility-scale photovoltaic plants affecting land-use impacts?

Abstract—The rapid deployment of large numbers of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants in the United States, combined with heightened expectations of future deployment, has raised concerns about land requirements and associated land-use impacts.

What is a utility-scale solar power plant?

We define utility-scale as greater than 1 MWdc for PV plants and greater than 1 MWac for CSP plants. Table ES-1. Summary of Land-Use Requirements for PV and CSP Projects in the United States We found total land-use requirements for solar power plants to have a wide range across technologies.

What happened to utility-scale PV power and energy density?

The last major study of utility-scale PVs power and energy density in the United States (from Ong et al. ) is now almost a decade out of date, yet is still routinely cited on matters pertaining to land requirements and land use—despite the rapid evolution of the industry in the years since its publication.

How much land-use does a PV plant need?

Figure 5 shows the capacity-based total and direct land-use requirement distributions for PV plants smaller than 20 MW. Direct land-use requirements for fixed-tilt PV installations range from 2.2 to 8.0 acres/MWac, with a capacity-weighted average of 5.5 acres/MWac.

What is a utility-scale PV system?

Unlike rooftop PV systems, which have limited or no land-use impacts by virtue of being mounted on existing structures, utility-scale PV plants are, by definition, sited on the ground and in the landscape and, therefore, occupy space that could, in most instances, be used for alternative purposes.

How much land do solar power plants use?

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.