Solar Energy has it all Sewn Up
A light hearted look at the land area needed for solar PV if it were to be used as the sole renewable energy source to satisfy the needs of the UK. Dr Alan Jones, PhD, C.Eng, FIET. Solar Energy has it all Sewn Up An article in The Scotsman on New Year’s Day caught my eye. Written by a lawyer engaged in legal matters relating to renewable energy the article claims the industry norm for solar farms require, on average, 5 acres of land for each MW of rating for a solar farm installation. This got me thinking! Given that the UK electrical energy demand in 2022 was 320.7TWh and assuming solar panels, on average, achieve around 10% overall annual efficiency (calculated as 100% x actual output/theoretical output) then the land mass needed to accommodate the whole of the UK’s present electrical energy demand entirely from solar would be in the order of 1.8 million acres. Of course when EV’s become the norm and gas is replaced by heat pumps we can expect this land mass to double, but f