Findings from these studies show that it is possible to establish native prairie under solar panels and, by doing so, provide soil benefits and habitat for wildlife and pollinators. Solar Sites Can Restore Prairie and Host Diverse Ecological Activity.
While PV installations and especially ground-mounted USSE facilities have been the subject of most research, the impacts of solar thermal panels on wildlife and ecosystems have yet to be studied. Thus, it remains to be found whether these impacts could be similar to the ones observed in the case of PV panels.
Sprawling plains of solar panels can help nature more than just by providing clean energy: As populations of crucial pollinators decline, developers have been seeding the grounds of their solar arrays with native wildflowers.
Such PV panels can be installed on rooftops, in ground-mounted utility-scale facilities, which are often called Utility-Scale Solar Energy (USSE) facilities, or on water such as on the sea, lakes, reservoirs or canals [9, 10, 11]—often called floatovoltaics or floating PV/solar facilities.
However, the currently available evidence regarding the effects of photovoltaic installations on biodiversity is still scarce. More research is urgently needed on non-flying mammals and bats as well as amphibians and reptiles. Solar thermal panels and floating PV installations should also be further investigated.
They linked these effects on plant and pollinator communities to alterations of microclimatic conditions under PV panels such as changes in soil temperature, solar radiation, or soil moisture—which can be directly related to nectar production by plants.
In addition, most observations studied microorganism populations found on PV panels but the effect of PV installations on soil microorganisms and fauna was far less investigated. More studies elucidating the effects of PV installations on ecological functions should also be conducted.
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