Potential land sparing, water sparing, and water sharing across FPV solar energy buildout scenarios in the Northeast. Green points represent land sparing (i.e., terrestrial hectares not developed for solar), blue points represent water sharing (i.e., FPV energy generation potentially shared with other water uses), black dotted line represents the maximum suitable area for FPV systems in the Northeast, and black solid lines represent water sparing (i.e., freshwater hectares not developed for FPV solar energy). Surface-area values represent the direct area only and do not consider spacing for buffers; values therefore represent a conservative estimate of the land- and water-sparing potential of FPV systems. Land-sparing potential is calculated using an energy density of 2.03 ha per megawatt (MW) (see methods for details).
