Feb 2026
Solar plants do not produce any emissions when generating electricity. It is therefore quite easy to think that they are completely green and emissionless. But are they?
There is currently no single and simple measure of what is “green”. Let’s settle on one we can agree on: being environmentally sustainable. This is measured by emissions (CO2 and other greenhouse gases), energy consumed, and resources used.
The extraction of raw materials used to produce solar panels.
Conversion into components: panels, inverters, and frames.
Transportation to site and the generation phase.
Decommissioning, disposal, and the recycling process.
The energy payback time is the years it takes for a solar plant to generate enough energy to offset what it used during production. Currently, this is estimated at 2 years.
Net Positive Electricity
However, land use is a major factor. Large-scale plants can displace trees, preventing the absorption of up to 2.6MT of CO2 per year per acre.