A letter-writer on Jan. 6 states that “there simply aren’t enough rooftops” in Massachusetts to accommodate our solar needs. This is not factually correct. If even 25% of the commonwealth’s rooftops hosted solar panels, Massachusetts would exceed its 2050 climate goals in 2040. At the moment, we have about 11% of our rooftops hosting solar.
The obstacle is not the amount of space. It’s money. It costs a developer less to put a solar panel on an acre of forest land than it does to put it on a rooftop. And yet even on a rooftop, a solar panel still ultimately generates revenue for the developer. It’s just that it would generate more revenue if that panel were on the ground. So really the obstacle is not even money: it’s that developers want more money.
It’s worth noting that in 2022, 85% of Massachusetts residents told the MA Division of Energy Resources that solar belongs on our 1.5 million acres of developed land, not in our forests, which clean our air and our water and supply our wood and energy needs and provide habitat for wildlife and attract tourists and their dollars in the autumn — or our working field, which grow our food and agricultural products and provide jobs to over 15,000 Massachusetts residents.
Solar industrial facilities belong on the roofs of our homes, our municipal buildings, our schools. They belong on the roofs of our industrial parks, office parks, and factories and the roofs of our malls, businesses, and parking garages. They belong on top of the already built environment. They do not belong in anyone’s back yard, whether that’s in an urban, suburban, or rural community.
Matteo Pangallo
Shutesbury