...Equally applies to wind, hydro as well
From the US they have noticed the problems with Industrial scale Renewables, the Grid and Instability.
"As the U.S. begins a major push to become the leading player in the global solar revolution, the topic of sprawling solar farms built away from communities vs. small and medium scale solar arrays utilising rooftops and smaller parcels of already developed or degraded land is becoming an increasingly important issue."
"Small and medium scale solar power has the potential to become the Internet of distributed electricity generation – a network resilient to a single point of failure; whether caused by natural disasters or attack by hostile parties."
But this aspect only scratches the surface – decentralised solar {as well as Wind and Hydro} power offers a multitude of other benefits over large scale plants;
- including avoiding “line loss” and heat losses from transformers, associated with remote generation,
- reduction in infrastructure investment {GRID}
- while offering major permanent job creation potential and
- avoiding damage to wildlife habitats, loss of farmlands.
Instead of appropriating undisturbed public lands or utilising productive agricultural land for solar power generation on a massive scale, better use can be made of the very much under-utilised sea of rooftops in our towns and cities. Furthermore, in the UK the brownfield sites, commercial buildings within ctown/city centres offers direct in-building benefits.
We need, in the UK, a coalition including public land activists, solar power and electrical engineering experts pointing out or lobbying {to the Net Zero Zealots} that,
- When all the costs of establishing
- & maintaining large solar farms are considered;
- Including factoring in transmission infrastructure and inefficiencies and,
- Storm damage risks!
Local, distributed solar PV {and again Wind and local hydro} “is comparable in efficiency, faster to bring online, and more cost-effective than remote utility-scale solar plants”.
Earlier this month, the group released a report, “US Public Lands Solar Policy: Wrong From The Start,” which details some of the risks they say are associated with remote, utility-scale power generation and how increased focus on small to medium scale installations can help provide a solution.
However large or small, a solar farm {wind turbines or Mini- Hydro} will always be more "environmentally friendly" than 'Centralised' power generation facilities and Grid, in terms of overall impact. But even within clean and a BALANCED renewable energy technology deployment, humanity can strive to have as little impact as possible – and in doing so, reap additional 'local community' benefits.
The Energy BALANCE:
Localised energy from renewable AND in conjunction with CHP {Combined Heat and Power} - using bio-methane from organic wastes, farms etc. Need to be balanced to provide local energy needs, and being in the UK Heat {and occassionally cooling}. We have written about this before CLICK HERE