报告:马里兰州可以通过明智的土地利用来实现可再生太阳能的目标

巴尔的摩县 & 城市试点研究显示在退化土地上安装太阳能的广泛机会, 工业场所, 屋顶, 和未来太阳能停车篷

安纳波利斯, 医学博士-今日, 十大赌博正规老平台协会的保护创新中心(CIC)发布了一份新的报告:  马里兰州最佳太阳能选址:巴尔的摩县和市试点. 利用地理空间分析, the report identifies optimal solar sites and answers the key question: Are enough optimal sites available to meet Maryland’s renewable energy goals for solar energy?

The analysis results showed 巴尔的摩县 and City offer extensive opportunities for solar placement on degraded lands and underutilized 工业 sites, 在商业楼顶, 工业, 以及住宅楼, 以及开发太阳能停车棚.

马里兰州是美国30个拥有可再生能源投资组合标准的州之一, 增加可再生能源发电的授权. Maryland’s mandate requires 50% of electricity sold by utilities to come from renewable sources, 有14.5%来自太阳能. 为了实现这一目标，该州将需要6倍于目前的太阳能产量. 太阳能开发的选址问题日益受到关注, 鉴于太阳能需求的快速增长.

Solar installations range from small rooftop photovoltaic systems and medium-sized distributed generation installations that use energy locally and feed excess energy back to the grid, 到直接向公用事业公司出售能源的大型地面装置. The Governor’s Task Force on Renewable Energy Development and Siting estimates that the land needed to meet the state’s RPS goal will require between 7,000和35,在全州范围内占地1000英亩.

“This report is a timely reminder we can make real progress on our greenhouse gas reduction and environmental protection goals for a win-win with smart solar siting policies,国防部长本·格鲁姆斯说, 他是马里兰州环境部部长，也是该州气候变化委员会主席.  “We can expand our state’s homegrown clean and renewable energy supplies by utilizing rooftops, 棕色地带, and waste sites while avoiding prime farmland and ecologically sensitive lands and forests which also deliver clean air and water to Marylanders.”

“Our analysis of solar energy development opportunities sought to identify enough sites to produce 巴尔的摩县 and City’s share of the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard solar goal. 基于能源消耗, 这是1,967千瓦时/年的电力, 大约是全州目标的18%,000千兆瓦时/年的太阳能发电,” said 十大赌博正规老平台’s 环保创新中心 Vice President of Technology Susan Minnemeyer. “We found far more optimal sites than needed – enough to generate 22,789 GWh/year of electricity. 事实上，只有8个.6 % of the optimal sites would need to prove viable to meet 巴尔的摩县 and City’s share of solar energy needs on optimal sites alone. For both optimal and 首选地面安装地点, only 7% of sites would need to be viable.”

“Our analysis demonstrates significant opportunities to scale up solar energy development through optimal siting in 巴尔的摩县 and City, 利用屋顶, 停车的树冠, 以及退化的土地来发展马里兰州的太阳能发电,明尼迈耶接着说. “Providing incentives for solar energy development on optimal sites may be one of the best ways to minimize the amount of land needed for solar and avoid potential adverse impacts of development.”

“尽管我们强烈支持可再生能源, 我们的成员从一开始就担心，如果没有选址指导或激励措施, 农田和资源用地将是这些土地密集型项目的主要目标,特蕾莎·摩尔说, 山谷规划委员会的执行主任, 谁委托进行这项研究?. 这正是我们在巴尔的摩县看到的情况. Almost all the applications for the first three years of the community solar pilot program have been on prime farmland, 在最佳的网站上几乎没有活动. 我们希望看到马里兰州效仿新泽西等州的做法, where optimal solar sites have been mapped statewide and a ranking system has been incorporated into solar project reviews. This helps achieve other goals included in Maryland’s solar legislation calling for job creation and benefits to low and moderate income residents, in addition to avoiding conflicts with long-established programs and policies to protect our best farm and forest lands.”

与太阳能开发有关的土地使用问题

The key land use concerns regarding ground-mounted utility-scale and community solar are the loss of prime farmland and adverse environmental impacts such as loss of forest, 湿地, 或者其他重要的生态区域. The loss of prime agricultural land threatens Maryland’s agricultural economy and food production capacity. Important work has been done in recent decades to stem the loss of farmland to housing development, and now many fear a new threat of solar sprawl will compound the pressure to convert productive lands to other uses.

哪些地方最适合使用太阳能?

A key benefit of solar energy in the built environment is that it can be developed alongside the productive use of homes, 商业建筑, 或办公室, 并提供诸如降低能源成本和气候效益等好处. Solar 停车的树冠 enhance 停车场 with shaded parking and electric vehicle charging stations. Ground-mounted solar installed on degraded lands puts abandoned lands back into productive use. Increasing the use of solar in more densely populated areas also provides a valuable source of employment. Community solar projects open to low and moderate-income subscribers can help ensure the cost-saving benefits of solar are accessible to all.

方法

The methods set out to first identify all potential solar sites — those that meet legal (zoning) and technical criteria for allowing solar energy development. 下一个, 潜在的太阳能站点根据一系列环境因素进行了排名, 股本, 以及确定最佳选址的效率标准. 最佳地点要么在建筑环境中，要么在屋顶上, 停车场, 退化或污染的土地.

中投公司还确定了第二层地点, 首选地面安装地点, 这将避免土地使用与农业或具有环境价值的土地的权衡. Land parcels larger than 5 acres that could support at least 1MW of solar energy capacity were analyzed. Parcels with a high portion of forest cover or on targeted ecological areas—lands identified by the state as high conservation priority—were screened out to avoid adverse environmental impacts. 下一个, 地块被评价为基本农田土壤, 主要生长在优质土壤上的植物被筛除. 其余的地点首选地面安装太阳能, 是否在没有森林覆盖和生态重要性低的边缘土壤上, 允许以最少的土地使用权衡进行太阳能开发.

要阅读该研究的全文，请访问 http://ogj82c0f.yiyiyiku.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CC-Report-Solar-Siting-方法-FINAL.pdf. 要查看附带的web应用程序，请访问 http://cicgis.org/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d03cf1533ee94deeabb2c5cece0e2561. 山谷规划委员会获得了这项研究的资金, 方法, 路德维希和南希·斯特恩伯格慈善基金会的模特.

###