Attention Hunters! There is a strong possibility that one of your favorite hunting areas could soon be razed and replaced with solar panels. Laws and policies are being enacted in the State of Michigan that will have a significant impact on rural land. Two packages of bills are working their way through the legislature. One set of bills currently in the state senate concerns climate change, and another set of bills that have recently been passed by the house concern locating and approving sites for solar farms. Unfortunately, these bills have been proceeding through government channels with little-to-no input from utility companies, who ultimately have to connect them to the grid.
Governor Whitmer created a set of environmental initiatives known as My Healthy Climate Plan. The plan established goals related to issues such as health outcomes, climate change, environmental justice, greenhouse gas emissions, electric vehicles, and renewable energy. The set of bills that recently passed the house call for 100% carbon free emissions in electricity production by 2040. A primary hindrance to increasing the production of renewable energy is siting; finding a location and obtaining the necessary approvals for constructing a solar or wind farm. These bills eliminate the need for local approvals, and move that function to the state for solar farms with a capacity above 50 megawatts and wind farms with a capacity above 100 megawatts.
To give you an idea of what this means, it would require a solar farm of roughly one square mile just to power current Grand Haven Board of Light and Power (BLP) customers. Dave Walters, General Manager for the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power, spoke about these bills during the October 19, 2023, board meeting and a summary of the bills was included in the November 16, 2023, board packet (p. 88). (25:30) “I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations to look at what type of solar and wind we would have to put in to get to the 2040 goal. [] I looked at the 15-year period from 2026-2040. The BLP would have to put in 42 acres per year of solar. That would amount to about 640 acres in 15 years, which would essentially be that the BLP alone, with no one else, would need a square mile of solar panels.” Walter’s calculations estimate seven acres of land are required per megawatt of energy, and further assume no growth in demand (think electric vehicle demand) and no improvements in technology.
To get a visual of the size of solar farm that is required to power Grand Haven at current electricity demands, this picture denotes a one square mile box superimposed over Grand Haven:
Walters further commented, “This is not something we could just do with solar panels on people’s roofs. We would have to partner that with 45 additional megawatts of wind just for Grand Haven.” He explained that if everyone put solar panels on their roof, it would equate to approximately 40 acres, or 1/15 of the requirement. “This is a very aggressive goal, and will replace any goal that we have locally.” “It’s going to be a very aggressive maneuver by [Michigan Public Power Agency] MPPA to have a significant project well over a couple hundred acres of solar every single year for 15 years, plus about half as much megawatts of wind.” He also expressed concern over project locations. (22:00). “Do we have any room in our community to site those types of facilities? We don’t.” That means that these projects will most likely take place in rural locations, and with the new laws, local governments will have little say. (18:29)
In addition to locating solar farms that support local electrical demands on rural land, hunting grounds could also be destroyed to support the needs of big cities, and other large consumers of power. Five days after the Michigan siting bill was approved, online retailer giant Amazon announced plans to build an 85-megawatt solar farm in Van Buren County. This equates to roughly one square mile of solar panels. Because the permitting authority has been transferred to the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), the local community has not been included in the process. In fact, the location of the future project has not even been disclosed.
(photo courtesy of MLive – A solar farm developed by Amazon in Maryland.)
Removing local control raises further concerns regarding the decommissioning of solar farms. According to the article, Lawrence Township previously approved a project that “included provisions for decommissioning that solar farm – a form of local control and oversight.” “What’s going to happen at the state level for decommissioning when the solar farm gets to that stage?”
In its press release Amazon stated, “The Southwest Michigan solar project will help power Amazon’s local operations, including Amazon fulfillment centers, sorting centers and delivery stations, while also providing new sources of clean power to local communities where the projects are located, the Seattle-based company said in a news release.”
When renewable energy sources of solar and wind are discussed in the media, the talk always centers on the energy source’s carbon emissions and virtually never takes into account the land use required. This Energy Transition article from the World Economic Forum (WEF) explains the land requirements of various energy sources to produce one megawatt-hour of electricity:
Per the World Economic Forum (WEF): “There are massive differences between sources. At the bottom of the chart we find nuclear energy. It is the most land-efficient source: per unit of electricity it needs 27-times less land compared to coal; 18-times less than hydropower plants; and 34-times less than solar PV.”
One thing the renewal energy advocates never talk about is nuclear energy. Although it takes up the least space of all electricity production technologies and produces zero greenhouse gas emissions, nobody wants to talk about it. Gas fired power plants also get a bad rap even though they are at least 12 times more space efficient than solar and much more dependable. Although they emit greenhouse gases, they can be outfitted with scrubbing technologies that significantly reduce emissions.
Solar farms and the GREEN NEW DEAL: This is not green and not a good deal. To me it looks like they will cut down a lot of trees. In a world in which the media keeps pounding us about CO2 emissions, why would anyone clear land to fight climate change? Last I knew, trees use carbon dioxide as food. Also, a lot of animals live where trees are. It has been said that approximately 50% of hunters in the state of Michigan do not vote, and the 2022 hunting population was approximately 460,000. That is a huge demographic! Hunters, let your voice be heard. Please take the time to share this article with fellow hunters and sign-up to follow Restore Ottawa. We are local citizens making an effort to understand what is truly happening behind the scenes and bring that information to you.