A comparison of land-use requirements in solar-based decarbonization scenarios

Abstract

What is needed to achieve decarbonization in the United States of America? While recent scholarship has presented detailed scenarios for consideration, further analysis is needed into their implications and the scale of social, institutional, and policy changes that will be necessary for implementation. This communication examines one component of a transition to an energy system based on solar power: the scale and pace of land-use change that would be necessary to realize the widespread use of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) technology envisioned in these scenarios. How much land would be required to deploy the proposed generating capacities for utility-scale solar PV, under a uniform set of assumptions? How does the envisioned change to solar land-use compare to historical episodes of rural settlement? By answering these questions, we focus attention on policies that permitted earlier changes to occur, and the possibilities for similar measures to be adopted in a solar transition.