Solar parks sometimes have a negative connotation when it comes to biodiversity. This is different if the parks are designed ecologically, according to research by the University of Groningen in collaboration with energy producer Novar and the province of Groningen.
Birds that like bushes and bushes benefit most from ecological solar parks. This concerns, for example, the yellowhammer, warbler, wood warbler and reed bunting. “These were really in very high densities at the solar parks. I found that striking,” says PhD researcher Sylvia de Vries, who went to the area between April and June 2023 to count nesting birds.
The new parks are also appreciated by butterflies and mice. It is mainly the edges of the solar park that have positive effects. There is the least biodiversity under the solar panels: there is open ground with little sunlight and vegetation. There were sheep in two of the three parks. Intensive grazing also resulted in fewer butterflies and birds.
De Vries is not finished with her research yet. She analyzes all kinds of solar parks on land until 2027. The research was conducted last year at three large-scale solar fields: Buinerveen solar park, Midden-Groningen solar park (Sappemeer) and Vlagtwedde solar park (Harpel). The parks were built in 2019 or 2020 and are only partly ecologically designed. The adjacent agricultural areas, the habitat that the solar park has replaced, have been used as a reference area for comparison.
‘Green desert’ unjustified
According to De Vries, it is not correct that the parks are sometimes popularly renamed ‘green desert’. “I certainly wouldn’t call it that, there is a lot of life there. I think that solar parks can add something to the habitat in agricultural areas. There is no ploughing, cultivation, fertilization or spraying in those areas. Vegetation can develop and insects can reproduce in the soil.”
Yet it is not fantastic news for every animal. Birds that like open fields do not breed in solar panel fields. This includes the skylark and lapwing. However, these are the species that have lost space because of the parks. Such open field species are also threatened by agricultural intensification. The researchers suggest spacing the panels further apart to give such animals a habitat in a park or other area to compensate for the birds. Whether it really works to space panels further apart will be investigated in the coming years.
Compensation and less heavy machinery needed
The researchers point out that field birds need additional compensation measures. When constructing a park, more attention should also be paid to maintaining soil quality and preventing soil compaction. Solar park builders, for example, could use lighter machines. “You see that it is very wet in some places in the parks. Our suspicion is that this is due to soil compaction.”
The above conclusions are based on one year of research at three parks. A total of fifteen solar parks will be investigated in the larger study up to 2027. Five of these still have to be built, where the researchers are now conducting baseline measurements. The effect of solar parks on dragonflies, moths, ground beetles and other flying insects is also being examined in more detail.
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