RIVERSIDE – (INT) - A study led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside has found that utility-scale solar energy development can have a detrimental impact on the environment.

The team found that big solar is far from transmission and demand loads, too close to protected areas, and is a driver of land-use and loan-cover change in California (the study focused on California).

Almost 30 percent of all installations were in croplands and pastures, the study reports.

“We are seeing landowners, particularly in the Central Valley, shift from harvesting crops to harvesting the sun,” says Rebecca Hernandez, the lead researcher.

Story Date: October 30, 2015