Solar parks – benefits for biodiversity

Published on: August 1, 2020 / Updated on: September 28, 2020 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Solar park with grazing sheep – @shutterstock | David Jancik

2A study commissioned by the German Association of New Energy Industries (bne) concludes that solar parks have a positive effect on biodiversity.

The aim of the study was to show whether and to what extent solar parks can contribute to floristic and faunistic biodiversity.

For this purpose, documentation on the vegetation and fauna of 75 solar parks in Germany was evaluated. The studies and investigations available for the parks, which are spread across nine federal states, were mostly conducted during the permitting phases and are highly heterogeneous. Nevertheless, documentation from almost 40% of the solar parks eligible for evaluation could be used. For some parks, intensive studies also exist, in some cases comparing the federal states before and after the parks were built, allowing for meaningful conclusions to be drawn. These conclusions suggest that solar parks generally have a positive effect on biodiversity and identify structures that can contribute to increasing biodiversity, particularly with regard to the spacing between the module rows and maintaining these spacings.

In addition to evaluating the relevant documentation regarding vegetation characteristics and the population of various animal groups within the parks, this study provides detailed descriptions of several parks as examples. Finally, it outlines the content, structure, and scope of future monitoring studies. One objective of such monitoring could be to develop uniform minimum standards for the construction of solar parks in the medium term.

The most important results of the evaluation of the available documents are:

• The use of land for solar parks is generally to be viewed positively, as it can lead to an increase in the value of the land in terms of preserving biodiversity, in addition to its contribution to climate protection through the production of renewable energies.

• The use of land for solar installations can have a significantly positive effect on biodiversity if it is designed in a nature-friendly manner.

• One of the main reasons for the diverse populations of solar parks, with sufficient numbers of individuals from various animal groups, is the permanent, extensive use or maintenance of grassland between the rows of solar panels. This clearly distinguishes these sites from intensively farmed areas or sites used for energy production from biomass.

• Solar parks can promote biodiversity compared to the surrounding landscape. This is evidenced in the available documentation for butterflies, grasshoppers, and breeding birds.

• There is sometimes a clear difference between solar parks with wide and narrow row spacing. Wider sunbeams between the module rows increase the density of species and individuals. This is documented in the colonization by insects, reptiles, and breeding birds. This has been particularly clearly demonstrated in the case of the sand lizard.

• The evaluation of the documents also reveals a possible trend in the differing importance of small facilities compared to large ones: While smaller facilities can act as stepping stone biotopes and thus maintain or restore habitat corridors, large facilities – with appropriate maintenance – can create sufficiently large habitats that enable the preservation or establishment of populations of, for example, sand lizards or breeding birds.

• Solar parks on brownfield sites can help stop the succession of vegetation, which leads to the loss of open, sunny habitats.

• Further research is needed. In particular, the colonization of solar parks after construction is often not monitored. However, this research can clarify the significance of solar parks for the density of species and individuals of various animal groups.

Suitable for:

• Economic efficiency of photovoltaic systems