From pv magazine Spain
A systematic review conducted by the research group Cátedra Steppe Forward, formed by scientists from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), the Centre for Forest Science and Technology of Catalonia (CTFC) and French energy giant TotalEnergies, has revealed the scarcity of studies on the impact of photovoltaic plants on biodiversity.
The review showed that medium-sized PV plants cause greater loss of semi-natural habitats than large PV plants, probably because “mega-PV installations” are subject to stricter environmental impact assessments, which could lead to fragmentation of large projects.
The dispersed distribution of small installations is also a factor leading to high cumulative environmental impacts that would not be detected by independent assessments, supporting the need for cumulative and synergistic environmental impact assessments.
The results of their work were presented in the study “Solar photovoltaic energy development and biodiversity conservation: Current knowledge and research gaps,” published in Conservation Letters, where they analyzed 180 scientific articles published since 2010, a period where the exponential growth of PV has not been accompanied at the same level by the growth of research on their effects on the environment, although this area of interest has grown in the scientific community.
Specifically, the number of articles has multiplied by 25 in the period 2010-2023. The results have made it possible to identify the main impacts of photovoltaic plants on ecosystems and associated organisms, and propose future directions of research to ensure that the energy transition occurs sustainably.
The review noted that, although Asia and Europe top the list of regions with the highest installed photovoltaic capacity, most of the knowledge comes from North American studies, especially from deserts, which may not be extrapolated to other environments, such as croplands, where most of the photovoltaic capacity is located on a global scale.
In addition, most of the studies focused on habitat loss or alteration, while other impacts, such as the consequences on the microclimate or the potential of agrovoltaic systems, have barely been addressed. Finally, 53% of the studies were carried out on a single photovoltaic installation, and pre-construction conditions were rarely recorded.
The installation of solar panels affects the environment and biodiversity in very diverse ways. In arid areas, the panels have a direct effect on the microclimate in warm seasons, generating new areas of shade and increasing soil moisture. They can also modify the chemical and physical composition of the substrate, but more research is needed to understand the mechanisms that explain these changes.
On the other hand, photovoltaic plants produce habitat alteration and loss at two spatial scales. At the landscape scale, they represent a physical barrier that interrupts the movements of animals, which can trigger changes in their behavior and populations. At a smaller scale, as already mentioned, the panels create new gradients of shade and humidity, ultimately affecting the plant community and altering the habitat of other groups of animals, such as birds and arthropods, with consequences on their patterns of space use.
The review also considered the impact of collisions with photovoltaic plants that have been observed in aquatic organisms, mainly arthropods, that can lead them out of bodies of water, turning them into ecological traps, a phenomenon known as the “lake effect.”
When installing photovoltaic panels, priority should be given to preventing impacts, starting with adequate land use planning. Furthermore, more research efforts must be devoted to understanding the mechanisms that explain the observed impacts in order to design effective mitigation measures.
The authors also highlight the need to diversify the environmental contexts and ecosystem components studied, in order to avoid biases in the available information. Similarly, robust methodological designs (known as BACI, Before-After-Control-Impact) and standardized protocols that allow the information obtained to be compared must be used.
Finally, greater efforts are needed to evaluate the cumulative environmental impact, to prevent the installation of small fields in a dispersed manner from generating a greater impact than large isolated installations.
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