As far as the sun is concerned, it is going to provide an extraordinary resource for generating electricity that is clean and sustainable, but without any type of toxic pollution by products or global warming effects. When you think about all of the potential environmental impacts that are associated with that of solar power (which these are going to include things such as habitat loss, water use, land use, and even the use of hazardous materials during the manufacturing of the solar panels and related gear), it is going to vary depending upon the technology. When it comes to the technology involved, it is going to either be photovoltaic solar cells, or PV, or concentrating solar thermal plants, which are more commonly referred to as CSP.
Another significant factor is going to be the scale of the SolarEze solar power system that is being used. These can range from smaller rooftop PV arrays, all the way to the larger utility CSP projects that are more common with larger companies. No matter what the scale may be however, it is going to have an effect on the environmental impact of the solar power.
Solar Land Use
Depending upon the location, the larger utility scale solar power facilities can potentially raise some concerns about the land that is being used and the land degradation, as well as potential habitat loss. While the total amount of land that is required is going to vary depending upon the technology that is being used, some other very important factors are going to be the topography of that particular site, and even the intensity of the solar resource itself.
To give you an idea of how much land is actually required in order to have a successful solar power system, a rough estimate for a PV system is going to range anywhere from 3.5 to 10 acres for each megawatt of production, while a rough estimate for a CSP system is going to be between 4 and 16.5 acres for every megawatt of production.
While solar power facilities are unable to share the land with other projects, there is the potential to put those solar panels into lower quality locations, as long as they are receiving some amount of sunlight. And if you can stack the solar panels onto a roof or building that is already there, you will not be wasting any extra land space at all.
Solar Water Use
While there is not going to be any water that is used in order to generate energy with a solar PV system, there may be some water that is required in the production of the materials that make up the PV components.
As for a CSP system, it is going to require the use of water in order to help cool down the electric plants. How much water is going to be used will directly depend upon the design of the plant, the location of the plant, and even the type of cooling system that the plant is using.