5.0.

Environmental and Social Impacts of the project

Even though a solar power farm looks like a development that is environment friendly and
sustainable, there are many factors that should be considered to minimize the negative impact
it can have on the environment and the society. The implementation and operation of the solar
farm must be assessed with respect to its socio-economic and environmental issues and any
negative impact mitigated.

5.1. Environment Impact of Solar Power

The sun provides a tremendous resource for generating clean and sustainable electricity
without toxic pollution or global warming.

The potential environmental impacts associated with the setting up of a solar power
farm are land use, habitat loss, water use and the use of hazardous material during the
manufacturing process of the photovoltaic cell.

The proposed solar farm will use the PV arrays method for generating electricity and
all the above mentioned environmental impacts have been assessed accordingly.

5.1.1. Land Use

Depending on their location, large utility-scale solar facilities can raise concerns
about land degradation and habitat loss. Total land area requirements vary
depending on the technology, the topography of the site, and the intensity of the
solar resource. Estimates for utility-scale PV systems range from 3.5 to 10 acres
per megawatt.

Unlike wind facilities, there is less opportunity for solar projects to share land
with agricultural uses. However, land impacts from utility-scale solar systems
can be minimized by siting them at lower-quality locations such as that chosen
for this project.

The land chosen is one found in a zone reserved for “Bad Neighbourhood
Development”. Several high polluting activities are already operating in that
area such as stone crushing plant, crematoriums, and poultry farms (refer to
figure 1). Furthermore, the land is of poor quality for agricultural purposes and
the investigation carried out shows that the top soil thickness is very low to
negligible at places, i.e. rocks layers are present on the surface.

Since the area is reserved for bad neighborhood development, there is no

residential development near the site. Residential development is not normally
allowed near high polluting activities such as stone crushing plants,
crematorium and poultry farming and the closest human settlement is found at
1km from the site. Figure 22 shows the location of the site with respect to other
development in the surrounding.The environment risk regarding land use is
negligible without any loss of habitat or land degradation.

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 Figure 22: Location of the proposed site with respect to other development in the area.

5.1.2. Water Use

Unlike other solar power generation system such as the concentrating solar
thermal plants (CSP), the Solar PV cells do not use water for generating
electricity as it does not require any cooling system. The electricity is generated
by the direct effect of sunlight on the PV cells that convert it into electricity
without any secondary process as described in section 2.2.5.

However, water will be needed for daily usage by the employees as well as for
cleaning/maintenance purposes of the arrays when required. However, the solar
modules are frameless which give them a self-cleaning mechanism during
rainfall, thereby, minimising the use of water for cleaning procedures.

Since the solar power cells will not require water as a source for its operation,
the risk associated with water use is minimal, i.e. it will not pollute water
resources or strain supply by competing with agriculture, drinking water
systems, or other important water needs.

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5.1.3. Hazardous Materials
The PV cell manufacturing process includes a number of hazardous materials,
most of which are used to clean and purify the semiconductor surface. These
chemicals, similar to those used in the general semiconductor industry, include
hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, 1,1,1-
trichloroethane, and acetone. The amount and type of chemicals used depends
on the type of cell, the amount of cleaning that is needed, and the size of silicon
wafer. Workers also face risks associated with inhaling silicon dust. Thus, PV
manufactures must follow the country of manufacturing laws to ensure that
workers are not harmed by exposure to these chemicals and that manufacturing
waste products are disposed of properly.

Thin-film PV cells contain a number of more toxic materials than those used in
traditional silicon photovoltaic cells, including gallium arsenide, copper-
indium-gallium-diselenide, and cadmium-telluride. If not handled and disposed
of properly, these materials could pose serious environmental or public health
threats. However, manufacturers have a strong financial incentive to ensure that
these highly valuable and often rare materials are recycled rather than thrown
away. [Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)]

The risk associated with the above would be of concern if the PV cells were
manufactured in Mauritius. But, since it will be imported, the manufacturing
risk is not borne locally and the manufacturer is expected to follow the stringent
law of the country of origin.

The PV cell products have been tested by independent laboratory for its
compliance certificate. Copies of the compliance certificate is annexed in
Appendix F in this report.

5.1.4. Life-Cycle Global Warming Emissions

While there are no global warming emission associated with generating
electricity from solar energy, there are emission associated with other stages of
the solar life-cycle, including manufacturing, materials transportation,
installation, maintenance, decommissioning and dismantlement. Most estimates
of life-cycle emissions for photovoltaic systems are between 0.07 and 0.18
pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour.

Most estimates for concentrating solar power range from 0.08 to 0.2 pounds of
carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour. In both cases, this is far less than
the lifecycle emission rates for natural gas (0.6-2 lbs of CO2E/kWh) and coal
(1.4-3.6 lbs of CO2E/kWh).

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Source: IPCC, 2011: IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Prepared by Working
Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, K. Seyboth, P.
Matschoss, S. Kadner, T. Zwickel, P. Eickemeier, G. Hansen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow (eds)]. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1075 pp. (Chapter 9).

Figure 23: Carbon dioxide emission of each source of energy during the life-cycle of the power plant. Fossil fuel has the
highest green house gas emission rate per kWh

5.2. Social Impact of Solar Power

Renewable energy provides substantial benefits for our climate, our health and our
economy. The environmental benefits have already been explained above. This section will
discuss the social and economic advantages of the solar power farm.

5.2.1. Air quality Improvement

Generating electricity from renewable energy rather than fossil fuels offers
significant public health benefits. The air and water pollution emitted by coal
and natural gas plants are linked to breathing problems, neurological damage,
heart attacks, and cancer. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy has been
found to reduce premature mortality and lost workdays, and it reduces overall
healthcare costs.

Solar power systems generate electricity with no associated air pollution

emissions. While other renewable source of energy such as
geothermal and biomass energy systems emit some air pollutants, total air
emissions are generally much lower than those of coal- and natural gas-fired
power plants. The absence of air pollution contributes in the improvement of air
quality and decrease in diseases associated with pollutants.

5.2.2. Sustainable source of Energy

By tapping from the free source of energy which is the sun, the electricity
production from other sources such as fossil fuel can be reduced. It is important
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to note that the use of fossil fuel can be eliminated in the near future. Fossil fuel
is exhaustive and one day will be completed depleted. This will jeopardize
future generation needs. By encouraging the use of renewable source of energy
such as the sun, the dependency on fossil fuel can be reduced and the available
stock can be used for a longer time.

With increasing interest in the use of solar power, the technology is being
refined and the price per kWh of electricity produced is decreasing. People will
benefit from this price fall without compromising the future generation
requirement of energy.

5.2.3. Job and other economic benefits

Compared with fossil fuel technologies, which are typically mechanized and
capital intensive, the renewable energy industry is more labor-intensive. This
means that, on average, more jobs are created for each unit of electricity
generated from renewable sources than from fossil fuels.

The solar industry employs people on a part-time or full-time basis, including

jobs in solar installation, manufacturing, and sales. Increasing renewable energy
has the potential to create still more jobs. In 2009, the Union of Concerned
Scientists conducted an analysis of the economic benefits of a 25 percent
renewable energy standard by 2025; it found that such a policy would create
more than three times as many jobs as producing an equivalent amount of
electricity from fossil fuels.

In addition to the jobs directly created in the renewable energy industry, growth
in renewable energy industry creates positive economic “ripple” effects. For
example, industries in the renewable energy supply chain will benefit, and
unrelated local businesses will benefit from increased household and business
incomes.

Renewable energy projects therefore keep money circulating within the local
economy, and in most countries, renewable electricity production would reduce
the need to spend money on importing coal, crude oil and natural gas from other
places. This will decrease the dependency of the country on others regarding
fossil fuel and can play as a leverage in negotiating fuel price for import.

5.2.4. Stable Energy prices

Renewable energy will provide affordable electricity across the country, and can
help stabilize energy prices in the future.

The costs of renewable energy technologies have declined steadily, and are
projected to drop even more. For example, the average price of a solar panel has
dropped almost 60 percent since 2011. The cost of generating electricity from
wind dropped more than 20 percent between 2010 and 2012 and more than 80
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percent since 1980. The cost of renewable energy will decline even further as
markets mature and companies increasingly take advantage of economies of
scale. [source: Solar Energy Industries Association]

While renewable facilities require upfront investments to build, once built they
operate at very low cost and, for most technologies, the fuel is free. As a result,
renewable energy prices are relatively stable over time. UCS’s analysis of the
economic benefits of a 25 percent renewable electricity standard found that such
a policy would lead to 4.1 percent lower natural gas prices and 7.6 percent lower
electricity prices by 2030. [source: Union of concerned scientist]

In contrast, fossil fuel prices can vary dramatically and are prone to substantial
price swings. For example, there was a rapid increase in coal prices due to rising
global demand before 2008, then a rapid fall after 2008 when global demands
declined. Likewise, crude oil and natural gas prices have fluctuated greatly since
2000.

The increasing use of renewable energy such as solar power will help to protect
consumers when the fossil fuels prices spike. Many countries including
Mauritius spends millions on financial instruments to hedge themselves from
the fossil fuel price fluctuations. The millions can be spent on long term
renewable energy investment that can help save moneys to protect consumers
from the uncertainties surrounding fossil fuel price.

5.2.5. Reliable energy system

Energy from solar power is less prone to large scale failure because they are
modular and not centralized. They are spread over a large geographical area. A
problem in one location will not cut off power over an entire region or country.
Modular system has the advantage of staying operational even if some of the
equipment in the system is damaged.

Renewable source of energy is more resilient than coal, crude oil or natural gas
power plants because they can resist disruptive events.

This will benefit the consumer who will not go through long periods of
blackouts when one of the power generation system is knocked-out.

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