MHC Government Relations Committee Report
YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION
Is Solar Farming Good for the Horse Industry? Te Maryland Horse Council conducted a solar power survey in
March, and several of our members expressed concern about the pros- pect of large-scale solar generation facilities on agricultural land, known as “solar farming.” Our Government Relations report in the April issue discussed the issue briefly, but now we take a deeper look at the policy reasons behind solar-farming, and how solar-farming can benefit horse farms and horse owners.
Why Solar in Maryland? It will be news to no one that Maryland must curb its greenhouse gas emissions and reduce nutrient run-off into the Chesapeake Bay. It may be news, however, that Maryland is under strict legal obligations to in- crease its solar power generation substantially in the next 10 years. In 2019, the General Assembly enacted a new Renewable Energy
Portfolio Standard designed to reach a “50 by 30” target, i.e., sourcing 50% of Maryland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Te stan- dard requires that a certain amount of the State’s electricity be generated from solar specifically, and that requirement increases each year between now and 2030. By 2030, Maryland must generate 14.5% of its electricity from solar power (see MD Code, Pub. Util. § 7-703). In 2020, Maryland generated only 4.3% of its electricity from solar power. Renewable energy is the rare topic that is not a partisan issue in Mary-
land. Governor Hogan, a Republican, permitted the 2019 legislation to become law but said he thought the Democrat-controlled General As- sembly had set the standard too low. He told former Senate President Mike Miller that the bill “wasn’t clean enough” and expressed support for “100 by 40” instead, meaning 100% renewable energy by 2040.
Why Does Maryland Need Solar on Agricultural Land? Te survey respondents who expressed concerns did not take issue with solar energy itself, they just questioned why new solar installations need to be on open land as opposed to on rooftops, over parking lots, in power line rights of way, on landfills, and the like. Te answer is at least two-fold. First, investment in rooftop arrays is already well underway. According to the Maryland Energy Administration, rooftop solar has accounted for the majority of the State’s solar investment so far. Te solar industry has installed more than $212 million in projects on over 6,000 residential rooftops, and over $44 million across 342 commercial rooftop projects. Te General Assembly took steps this past session to encourage more rooftop solar by raising the net metering limit, which allows more Mary- landers to sell more power back to the grid (see April 2021 Equiery col- umn for details). In addition, Governor Hogan is considering requiring rooftop solar on all government buildings and State-owned property. Second, in 2017 the Sierra Club1
concluded that “there isn’t enough room on rooftops, landfills, and brownfields” to meet requirements. Not
all roofs can support the weight of a solar array, especially older roofs. Not all landfills, brownfields, and parking lots have suitable terrain, and some industrial and urban settings may be unsuitable for other reasons related to public safety. In addition, it is more expensive to site solar arrays on roofs and parking lots because the engineering requirements are more complex, and because the work needed to prepare the site and mitigate collateral property disturbance is more extensive.
How Much Agricultural Land Is at Stake? Te amount of agricultural land needed to meet the State’s legal obliga-
tions on solar power is not large. Maryland has approximately 2 million acres of farmland, 800,000 of which are reserved in perpetuity for agri- cultural use under the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foun- dation program.2
Governor Hogan’s Task Force on Renewable Energy
Development and Siting reported that “between 7,750 and 33,000 acres of farmland could be devoted to utility-scale solar,” which accounts for, at most, 1.65% of the available, non-MALF acreage. 3 Tis calculation holds true outside of Maryland as well. At the na-
tional level, research published in Sustainability magazine showed that U.S. farmers could generate 20% of the country’s total energy needs by devoting just 1% of farmland to solar arrays.4
On a global level, the Yale
School of the Environment reported on a 2019 study that showed farm- ers could generate 100% of global electricity demand by devoting just 1% of their farmland to solar arrays.5
Where Is Solar Farming Happening in Maryland? According to the Maryland Energy Administration, the solar industry has already invested almost $10 million across 89 solar farms on agri- cultural land. In addition, and as we reported in April, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had 6 solar-farming petitions in review as of February: a 286-acre site on a reclaimed surface coal mine in Allegany County; a 286-acre site on agricultural land in Dorchester County; a 255-acre site on agricultural land in Harford County; a 232- acre site on Farmland of Statewide Importance in Kent County; a 70- acre site on agricultural land in Washington County; and a 25-acre site on agricultural land in Wicomico County. Since February, DNR has opened review on a 140-acre site on agricul- tural land in Harford County.
Can the Horse Industry Benefit from Solar Farming? Tere is growing acceptance in both the scientific and agricultural com-
munities that farmers and farmland–including horse farmers–can benefit from solar farming. In Maryland, the Sierra Club demonstrated that using 2017 metrics, a
crop farmer in Maryland who converted 10% of their land to solar would earn as much from the solar array as they did from previous crops. As-
continued...
FOOTNOTES: 1.
https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/sce/maryland-chapter/Solar%20development%20slides%20with%20notes%20%28v1-3Nov17%29.pdf 2.
https://msa.maryland.gov › msa › mdmanual › html › agri Maryland Agriculture, Farming and 2017 Board of Public Works statements] 3. Final Report, Governor Hogan’s Task Force on Renewable Energy Development and Siting (Aug. 14, 2020), available at
https://governor.maryland.gov/wp- content/uploads/2020/10/Final-Report_REDS-Task-Force.pdf 4. Proctor et. al. “Agrivoltaics Align with Green New Deal Goals While Supporting Investment in the US Rural Economy,” Sustainability (2021). 5. Adeh, E.H., Good, S.P., Calaf, M. et al., Solar PV Power Potential is Greatest Over Croplands, Sci. Rep’ts 9, 11442 (2019). See Yale Environment 360, available at
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/solar-panels-on-farmland-have-huge-electricity-generating-potential.
www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580 THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | AUGUST 2021 | 33
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