Published on Sunday 21 May 2023 | Article n°446
Land restrictions in Europe are more numerous than one might imagine. There are national, regional and local regulations. For example, McKinsey estimates that
1% land in Italy that can accommodate ground-mounted solar projects without limit: the land available for solar PV is constrained by regulatory limitations on the use of cultivated land, which accounts for almost a third of the total land area and 80% of the total land available after technical constraints.
For Germany to add 63 GW of new capacity by 2040, 85% of land would have to be available, according to McKinsey. One solution to reduce the restrictions on solar PV would be to increase the share of land combining crops and solar PV (agrivoltaics).
In total, Italy, Germany and France, which would account for almost half of the EU's renewable energy installations by 2030, could need between 23,000 and 35,000 square kilometres of additional land. This is almost the size of Belgium.
"Increasing the EU's renewable energy capacity at the rate needed to meet its stated targets will require substantial amounts of land.s stated targets will require substantial amounts of land across the region, which may be limited in some countries," the study says.
PV Tech of 19 May 2023
Editor's note Not long ago, all the research firms were saying that there was too much land in every country and therefore that power plant installations were due to landowners.It was not long ago that all the research firms announced that there was too much land in every country and that power plant installations were therefore due to landowners who were either too greedy or incapable of understanding the benefits of renewable energy!
The McKinsey study rectifies the general opinion and recognises the difficulty of obtaining land for equipment.
But then who is telling the truth? The European Commission, which is throwing around figures for 700 GW of installations by 2030? or McKinsey, which is challenging the credibility of this target?
We need reliable and credible information
