Where and How Much? Land Use Implications for High-Penetration PV
Abstract
It is widely known that the solar resource is many times larger than world’s primary energy demand. Despite this, questions of where and how much to deploy in a realistic context do not have such clear-cut answers. This article addresses this question in a context where solar PV is applied locally to firmly meet the bulk of energy demand from regional economies across the continental US. We provide comprehensive, realistic and actionable numbers regarding land use and installed capacities to meet present and future load that can inform planning decisions at local and regional levels. We contextualize PV deployment and corresponding land use by assigning a fraction of plausible deployment potential to land use classes as defined by the US Geological Survey. In addition, we provide readers with an online-interactive capability to select land-use deployment availability by class and further investigate state-specific potentials.