Solar power on farmland
Following the onslaught of Typhoon Morakot in early August 2008, the Pingtung County Government promoted a new policy to protect water and use designated agricultural land for solar power installations. The policy was successful in integrating the restoration of national land and the development of alternative energy sources.
However, on Aug. 14 last year, the Council of Agriculture (COA) announced that areas with severe land subsidence are not suitable for the installation of “green” energy facilities on agricultural land. While these areas include 18 townships in Yunlin, Chiayi and Changhua counties, Pingtung County is not included.
Donggang (東港), Linbian (林邊 ), Jiadong (佳冬) and Fangliao (枋寮) townships in Pingtung County are all located in areas with severe land subsidence. All these townships are also located in areas where groundwater controls apply and it is not suitable to continue using groundwater in these areas for agricultural purposes, such as irrigation or aquaculture, since that would only serve to further aggravate the land subsidence problem.
Article 3 of the Agricultural Development Act (農業發展條例) defines agricultural land as land that is used in accordance with applicable laws for farming, forestry, aquaculture, animal husbandry and conservation, making it clear that the restoration of agricultural land is one link in the agricultural chain.
This means that it would be possible to encourage farmers in areas with severe land subsidence to temporarily suspend their agricultural activities and their use of groundwater, and instead rely on the income from “renewable” energy sources for their livelihood during this period by allowing a period of 20 years to restore the land, a period that coincides with the service life of solar photovoltaic equipment. This would not only allow time for groundwater to be replenished by rainfall, which would alleviate the land subsidence problem, it would also dilute the salt contents of the salinated soil. This would help achieve the restoration of national land and bring back agricultural activities to agricultural land.
Hopefully, the COA will include these areas in the dedicated areas for “green” energy or dedicated agricultural areas reserved for restoration that are deemed unsuitable for agricultural activities. Doing so would allow the Pingtung County Government’s policy to protect water and use designated agricultural land for solar power installations to mark another success.
Yeh Yu-cheng
Pingtung County
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