Land Use – Solar Power, Agriculture or Nature

A New Solar Project Near Kingston, Ontario, Canada

A new solar power project will come on line near Kingston Ontario in September this year. This $300 million project is being developed by Samsung Renewable Energy. It has an estimated capacity of 100 MegaWatts (MW) of power; enough, say the promoters, to provide power for 17,000 homes.

Just west of Kingston, is the Lennox thermal power station that uses natural gas as its primary energy source but it can also use oil. It has the capacity to generate 2,120 MW of power. This is being upgraded by 900 MW increasing its capacity to 3,000 MW or 30 times that of the new solar facility.

The new 100 MW solar facility requires 1,000 acres of land, so that to replace the capacity of the Lennox generating plant with a solar facility would require 30,000 acres of land. In contrast, the Lennox station has a very small land footprint.

The Lennox facility can generate power continuously day and night. Overall, it operates at about 85% of its rated capacity after allowing for maintenance. The solar facility only operates at capacity when the sun shines. Its capacity at night is zero when it can provide no homes with power. It is night 50% of the time so that the maximum amount of power it can deliver is 50% of its capacity. In addition, its output is reduced on rainy or snowy days again reducing its capacity over time. It is estimated that solar power facilities operate at between 15 and 40% of maximum capacity depending on their location. It is probable that the Kingston solar facility will operate at between 20 and 25% of maximum capacity. Therefore, for this solar farm to match the output of the Lennox plant over time would require a solar farm of between 100 and 150 thousand acres.

To make matters worse, there is no control of when the sun shines. It is probable that the solar farm will generate power when it is not needed and, vice versa, will not generate power when it is needed. Whatever happens, the Lennox plant will always be needed as a backup to guarantee power. Excess power from the solar farm will be either wasted or sold to the USA at a fraction of the cost of its generation.

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Some of the land near Kingston that is being considered for solar farms is presently used for agriculture. It would seem to me that it is totally inappropriate to destroy farm land at this time. We are facing the prospect of the world population dramatically increasing in size. It has been estimated that we will, by the end of this century, have to double food production to satisfy this population increase. The population of Canada is also increasing by about 1% a year, which will increase the demand for food even here. It addition, climate change could seriously affect productivity through droughts and other inclement weather problems (as is happening now in Western Canada). Aquifers are drying up or becoming contaminated, for example, by seawater. Every bit of viable farmland should be preserved.

Much of the local land that has been used for solar is abandoned farmland. These farms are no longer viable as working farms. North of Kingston, this land is slowly reverting back to pine forest. The original pine forests were clear cut by the early settlers and the logs were floated down the St. Lawrence to be shipped to Britain from Montreal. I believe the present reversion of abandoned farmland to natural habitat is very valuable and should be encouraged.

The farmland associated with the farmhouse where we live is reverting back to forest. During our time here the number of wild animals has dramatically increased including the variety and number of birds at our feeders. There has been a significant decrease in song birds in Canada as a whole but, in this part of Ontario, the numbers have recently increased because of the amount of habitat that has been restored. We were all recently shocked by the senseless murder of a lion by a hunter in Zimbabwe. But we also kill wild animals in an appalling manner by destroying their habitat.

Most importantly, allowing forests to regenerate will fix and store large amounts of carbon dioxide and it is most important to take this into account when considering land use. Carbon is stored not only in the wood but also in the soil. In Canada, a large amount of carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere during the destruction of forests and their conversion to farmland. The preservation and possible increase in Canadian forests should play a major role in Canada’s response to climate change.

Ontario is one of the most “green” jurisdictions globally for power generation. All coal powered generation has ceased. Most power is generated by nuclear and hydroelectric facilities that do not release carbon dioxide. The Lennox natural gas generator is only used during times of maximum power demand. Ontario already has a more than adequate power generation, there is no reason to destroy land for small amounts of unreliable solar power.

When driving into Kingston, I used to enjoy watching a piece of abandoned farmland revert back to natural wilderness. One day, I was horrified to see the young trees being ripped out by large machines. The land was being converted into a solar farm. This land was completely destroyed to produce a very small amount of unreliable power. I regard this as a worthless tragedy.