A solar farm in China is greening the land around it by reducing ground water evaporation, cutting down on wind, and adding water to the ground.
A solar farm in China is greening the land around it by reducing ground water evaporation, cutting down on wind, and adding water to the ground.
In addition to providing the cheapest energy in the world on generally useless/valueless land, that is publicly owned because it is useless, solar is increasing the land value. OP mentions grazing use, and a wind break for dust storms. Where Chinese deployment costs are under 50c/watt = $100/sq meter deployed where $60/square meter including bare land buffers, bringing land value close to $1/square meter of agriculture quality land, makes that bare land rental value of $4000/partial hectare a good return on the $6000/solar used hectare, not to mention the energy value generated, or the land surrounding the hectare being improved.