Infrastructure need not be brutish: Let a thousand solar panels bloom

One of the least publicized but nevertheless significant obstacles to the new infrastructure required to support development of new energy resources is that this infrastructure can be unsightly.

A few years ago, I was working on a consulting assignment at a well-known university. Management had a strong interest in developing on-campus renewable resources. Funding was easy to acquire. The biggest obstacle to progress was that a politically powerful, well-funded neighborhood association nearby included homes that overlooked the campus. Any proposed project that had any possibility of being aesthetically displeasing could be held up for years, or dropped entirely, as a result of legal challenges from just a few neighbors.

In looking into how to address such “viewshed” objections, it became obvious that the problem isn’t that energy infrastructure has to exist. It is that people think energy infrastructure looks “too industrial.”

Application of artistic creativity can change even the most brutalist infrastructure from something that people want to hide, to something people want to display. The City of Seattle has long invited local artists to paint murals on downtown transformer boxes, upgrading them from bland green sidewalk bricks to works of public art. Seattle City Light also built its downtown Denny Substation to enclose and conceal what would normally be exposed transformers and wires. The Denny Substation is a landmark and a destination, not an eyesore. It incorporates public-purpose features like open space, various art displays, a dog walking area and even an energy educational center.

A few years ago, an Icelandic architectural firm created a conceptual design for transmission line towers called the “Land of Giants.” The concept drawings are easy to find on the Internet. This work shows how to turn even mundane high-voltage line support structures into art – in this case, metal sculptures of giant people holding the transmission lines. It doesn’t take much to imagine that Skagit County could use the same general idea and build future transmission towers in the valley in the shape of a tulip. Up towards the mountains, they could be built to resemble sasquatch or leaping salmon.

Solar panels don’t have to be installed in boring flat row after flat row. Solar panel support structures can be built as “solar trees.” In a solar tree, structural supports and solar panels work together architecturally to mimic the appearance of trees, flowering plants or abstract designs. The solar panels are used as the leaves or petals, while the supports are the trunks or stems. A solar tree works like any other ground-mounted solar system. These designs – there are over a dozen variations suitable for locations worldwide – can be built higher than conventional flat rows of solar panels without aesthetic objections. The solar panel “petals” can be installed at an optimum angle and can even support small motors that turn them to follow the sun, like a sunflower.

In France, a “wind tree” is also being developed. Additional small, vertical wind turbines are added to a solar tree above the solar panel “leaves,” increasing the energy output of the entire “tree” without adding to its footprint. These devices, especially with LED lighting and batteries charged by the solar tree, are well-suited for parking lots, to power lights without having to build and maintain expensive underground wiring.