Create model LOD so shadow will be cast from that LOD, by default shadow will be casted from the 1st LOD, if you have more than one LOD, you can switch the shadow_lod to higher level of LOD(lower poly). Some artifact will appear if the shape difference is too high though.
If your model doesn't have any LOD, shadow will be cast right from the model, even if it has high poly. And of course it will kill your fps.
And I don't think if shadow's alpha will affect rendering speed