New report: Solar projects are located mostly on agricultural land

Summary - The USDA reports that most of the industrial-size solar projects in the United States are being built on agricultural land. The report indicates that more than 3,000 industrial-size solar projects have been built in the US over the past 8 years. Approx. 43 percent of those projects were built on cropland, while 28 percent were built on pasture land.

Source: USDA Economic Research Service

WASHINGTON, DC - More than 70 percent of large-scale, commercial solar development in rural areas occurred on agricultural land, either cropland or pasture-range land. Of the 3,177 solar projects installed between 2012 and 2020, the largest share was on cropland (43 percent). Another 28 percent of solar projects were installed on pasture-range land.

NOTE: U.S. Energy Information Administration definition of utility-scale solar: "Utility-scale systems have a capacity of 1 megawatt (MW) or more and provide electricity primarily to the electric grid for offsite use."

Among regions studied, the Midwest had the highest share of solar installations on cropland at 70 percent, followed by the Atlantic at 43 percent and South at 37 percent.

In the West and Plains, installations occurred mostly on pasture-range at 60 and 65 percent, respectively. The Atlantic region had the highest share of solar sites on forest land at 23 percent, while the Atlantic and South both had the highest share of solar installations on developed land at 6 percent. Sites in the South were the most diverse of all regions, with 37 percent categorized cropland, 17 percent as forest, 19 percent as pasture-range, and 21 percent categorized as other.

Image Credit: USDA Economic research Service

Read about the expansion of solar and wind in rural areas of the contiguous United States in the USDA, Economic Research Service report Utility-Scale Solar and Wind Development in Rural Areas: Land Cover Change (2009–20)