A new piece of legislation introduced in the Missouri Legislature, House Bill (HB) 2651, would limit the amount of land that can be used for solar panels relative to farmland:
The total amount of real property associated with all solar energy projects that are established in any one county in this state shall not exceed an amount greater than two percent of all cropland in a county.
This bill highlights a legitimate concern. Solar farms take up a significant amount of space and require extensive transmission construction as well.
Nonetheless, interfering in the free market and banning the sale of land for solar energy projects seems like a step too far. While there are ample concerns with solar energy, why is the state government limiting property rights and picking winners and losers in the energy market?
If our state is concerned with the rapid growth of solar, the future reliability of our energy grid, and land use, why not take the shackles off the operation of the free market in energy? The Missouri Legislature could loosen restrictions around the nuclear industry. A traditional nuclear energy facility has a very small land footprint, requiring about 1.3 square miles per 1,000 megawatts of energy.
To generate the same amount of energy as nuclear, less powerful silicon solar photovoltaic farms need on average 63 times more land.
As I have written before, Missouri could do this by setting a solid foundation for nuclear and eliminating government restrictions on the industry. But what we don’t need is more government interference in the free market.
