Scientists make groundbreaking discovery while studying solar farms in Minnesota: 'There's still so much work to be done'

Researchers in the Midwest made a groundbreaking discovery about the positive impact solar panels can have in wildlife and ecological habitats, as reported by Tech Xplore.

Traditional sources of energy, such as coal, gas, and oil, destroy landscapes with the mining of resources, pollute air and water, and contribute to planet-warming climate disasters. Solar panels, on the other hand, are known to provide savings on electric bills for homeowners and businesses while improving air quality and reducing extreme weather events, such as wildfires, floods, and droughts.

While homeowners can place solar panels on the roofs of their homes, solar panels can also be placed on the ground, generating energy on a large scale for communities and companies. However, there have been questions about what to do with the ground underneath solar panels.

For six years, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Minnesota, Temple University, and Minnesota Native Landscapes took a look at the interactions of habitat and solar energy production on three solar farms in Minnesota to learn more. 

They found that native prairies can exist and be restored under solar panels, providing rich soil for wildlife, plants, and pollinators. The studies also showed that pollinators used the land just as much as other conservation land and can reduce some of the damage done to the soil when the solar panels are first installed on the land.

Loss of habitats is a large issue across the world. According to the World Wildlife Fund, animal populations worldwide have decreased by 70% in 50 years. A large driving factor of this is planet-warming dirty energy use. In the United States, 74% of all heat-trapping polluting gases comes from dirty energy. 

Solar panel projects can reduce reliance on dirty energy and help protect wildlife and pollinators. All this while helping reduce the price of electricity.

"One key takeaway from this research is that relationships between soil health, native pollinator habitat, insect abundance, and PV production can vary from site to site," James McCall of NREL said. "We plan to continue research at the site and to see how the vegetation persists over time. We're just starting to see certain vegetation species emerge, and studying how these benefits may change or continue over the life of the solar project is important for continued deployment of ecovoltaic projects."

Ecovoltaics is the study of the intersection of solar installations and soil.

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"We need to study more sites," NREL agrivoltaics researcher Chong Seok Choi said. "For instance, site-specific climate — how much moisture is in the air, for example — can affect whether the cooling we observe from native habitat can lead to increased PV efficiency. There's still so much work to be done."

While more research continues into the relationship between habitat and solar panels, there are other projects designed to protect and restore habitats. America the Beautiful hopes to restore at least 30% of lands and waters by 2030, while the Land and Water Conservation Fund partners with federal and state governments to protect land in the U.S. 

Solar panel installations have also been shown to help habitats and plants in other ways. Agrivoltaics, the process of combining solar installations with food production, has led to interesting findings. An installation in France experimented with growing grapes for winemaking that thrive in shade. Researchers found that the yield of grapes increased by up to 60%. In another study, olives were found to boost the efficiency of solar panels, while the infrastructure increased the fruit's yield. 

Researchers are working on other solar panel combinations. In Iowa, grazing sheep were used to mow the grass under panels, eliminating the need for lawnmowers. Another study found the wool produced by sheep in these environments was of the same quality as that of open grazing sheep.

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