As I watch the clean-energy revolution unfold — and study it academically in pursuit of a process to improve renewable project siting — I am concerned that Virginia’s transition is being unnecessarily hindered by inaccurate information, or worse, by disinformation disseminated by those who want to stop our transition to renewable energy.
Too often, I see local jurisdictions erect barriers and establish project requirements that stem from misunderstandings about the environmental risks of solar panels themselves, and their ability to create permit conditions for projects that will protect the environment, including their viewsheds. It is excellent public policy for county leaders to consider the risks and benefits of new technologies, given their potential to worsen or improve existing problems. Hopefully, sound, research-based information is what local decisionmakers use in making accurately informed choices.
An example of inaccurate information being used by decision-makers are recent attempts to restrict the use of thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar panels. Thin-film CdTe solar panels have a semiconductor layer that is 1/30 the thickness of the semiconductor layer in conventional crystalline silicon solar PV panels, and are an American solar technology that has been deployed worldwide since the 1990s. Independent studies conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and by researchers at Virginia Tech in 2019, confirmed the environmental benefits and safety of thin-film CdTe technology over its life cycle. One environmental benefit is that CdTe technology uses mining byproducts that would otherwise have to be disposed of and puts them to beneficial use. Another benefit is the ability to recycle panels at the end of life — more than 90% of a photovoltaic panel made with CdTe is recyclable using current technology.
The more immediate concerns for localities are, naturally, the potential risks for exposure to toxic chemicals now and in the future. CdTe thin-film panels are not coated with Gen-X like materials which can erode or run-off panels and are of concern to many. In addition to concluding that CdTe solar panels “pose little to no risk under normal operating conditions and foreseeable accidents such as fire, breakage, and extreme weather events like tornadoes and hurricanes,” the Virginia Tech study noted CdTe was arguably the leading utility-scale solar technology for Virginia due to its superior performance in hot and humid climates.
Misinformation about solar panel safety and potential environmental impacts is one way of harming Virginia’s clean-energy transformation. Another is the claim that solar projects destroy biodiversity and agricultural land. In fact, with the right practices, such as agrophotovoltaics (growing crops and/or raising livestock between and around solar arrays) solar projects can help maintain rural agrarian landscapes, rehabilitate the land, support agricultural production, and contribute to land conservation through carefully designed permit conditions. The American Farmland Trust stated, “With good planning and well-regulated permitting processes, the impact of solar development on agricultural lands could be minimized, and the positive attributes of solar projects on agricultural land maximized to strengthen agricultural viability and soil health.”
I raise these points because I believe it is vitally important that we sustainably site renewable facilities. The transition to a cleaner energy future poses a daunting challenge. We need better processes through which people can come together and make sound, well-informed decisions on proposed projects. Within the next several months, I will complete a research project examining the issuance of more than 100 solar permits at the county level in Virginia over the past seven years. One of the more striking conclusions I have drawn is the degree to which local officials are not incorporating permit conditions that will protect their community’s interests, such as obtaining financial and in-kind support for local priorities, protecting viewsheds, and financial benefits of hosting clean energy development.
Ultimately, the research I am conducting in this area is designed to yield a robust process for siting renewable energy projects and identifying best practices for local officials to consider incorporating into local permits. It’s not sufficient that policymakers and governmental officials at the state and county levels have the opportunity to advance equitable ways to make the clean-energy revolution happen. I encourage them to seize such opportunities and offer the assistance of the VT — Renewable Energy Facility Siting project.
Ronald Meyers, Ph.D., is associate professor of practice, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and director of the Renewable Energy Facilities Siting Project at Virginia Tech.
