Initial provincial wide MCE
Whilst the fairly fine resolution of the data used compared to the scale of the analysis yielded a detailed output suitability raster, some general trends were visible (Figure 4). For the most part, both the Coastal and Rocky Mountains had relatively low suitability, as well as the majority of northern BC west of the Rocky Mountains. North-eastern BC (east of the Rocky Mountains) had very good suitability. Most of the south and central interior had relatively high suitability. The southern tip of Vancouver Island had a reasonably high suitability as well, although the rest of the island got progressively less suitable moving north. The very south-east corner of BC also had some areas of very good suitability.
Figure 4.
The graduated spectrum was useful to understand general trends and to qualitatively assess potential solar farm regions in the province. However, to more accurately determine ideal locations, we selected for the most suitable 20% of results. This subset of the suitability raster eliminated the vast majority of the suitable areas (Figure 5).
Figure 5.
The region with the greatest representation in the subset was the north-east of the province (east of the Rocky Mountains). Specifically the area between Fort Nelson and the Alberta border, as well as around Dawson Creek and Fort St John. The Kootenay River Valley in the south-east of BC was also strongly represented in the subset. Additionally there were various areas spread out in the south and central interior and even a very small area on Vancouver Island.
Given this, we decided to focus the second half of our analysis on the north-eastern region of the province (Figure 6).
Figure 6.
Local constraints
After the land use, Indigenous reserves, riparian zones, and critical habitat constraint layers were overlaid as boolean constraints, the north-east study area looked markedly different (Figure 7). The vast majority of the more southern cluster of suitable areas was eliminated mostly due to the land being already developed as well as smaller contributions from all the other constraint layers. For the more northern cluster of suitable areas, the Boreal Caribou habitat was the largest constraint, with the development, Indigenous reserves, and riparian zone layers also eliminating some suitable areas. After eliminating the areas of the constraints, the total area of the most suitable 20% subset left within the north-east study region was 5029 square kilometers (Figure 8).
Figure 7.
Figure 8.
