What are the benefits of conducting an environmental impact assessment for renewable energy projects?

EIA helps to address an operational activity's impact on the existing committee's serenity. It helps bring together relevant stakeholders to address concerns necessary towards the peaceful operations of the firm towards sustainability. It helps to take decisions on biodiversity management, resettlement & compensation activities.

The Environmental Impact Report is basically going to give a data backing to the decisions made during project development. The report takes out the guessing games and gives peace of mind to know you are not disrupting the local ecology. Data driven decisions are imperative.

There is a great push towards having Circular Economy to reduce the environmental impacts. The sole aim of switching to green energy is to reduce the environmental impact and thus it is critical to avoid creating waste out of these systems. This can be achieved by conducting Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis. For example, the lifetime of solar panels is ~25-30 years after which these panels will become waste, if designer did not consider recycling them.

Consider adding into scope of work the results of the EIA study. Include as required, the previous land use and its purpose and historical sequence of change of possession.

In the vast majority of cases an EIA is not necessary due to the location of the project. That said, all experienced developers will necessarily conduct Phase I studies, wetland delineations, as well as a review of threatened and endangered species, plus a desktop archaeology study. If a full EIA were required for all projects, then the renewable energy industry would collapse in the US as it would create extreme timing difficulty (and costs) and supply chain issues.

Renewable Energy Projects like big solar farms do impact the local ecology. It changes the microclimate. Solar panels can alter the temperature, humidity, wind, and radiation levels under and around them, creating different microclimates that may affect the growth and survival of plants and animals. For example, a study in the Mojave Desert found that solar panels reduced the temperature by up to 5°C during the day and increased it by up to 3°C at night, compared to the surrounding areas. This could have implications for the flowering and seed production of rare plants, as well as the activity and behavior of animals.