2024-11-20 米国国立再生可能エネルギー研究所(NREL)
- https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2024/utility-scale-solar-fields-can-foster-abundant-biodiversity.html
- https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ad5b3c
- https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0f72
- https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023EF003542
- https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b00020
パネル下の小さな大草原：ミネソタ州の3カ所の公共施設規模の太陽光発電所で、在来種の花粉媒介者の生息地となるシードミックスの設置をテスト Little prairie under the panel: testing native pollinator habitat seed mix establishment at three utility-scale solar sites in Minnesota
James McCall, Brenda Beatty, Jake Janski, Kate Doubleday, Jordan Martin, Heidi Hartmann, Leroy J Walston and Jordan Macknick
Environmental Research Communications Published: 3 July 2024
DOI:10.1088/2515-7620/ad5b3c
Abstract
As more land is being utilized for large-scale solar energy projects, there are increasing discussions from stakeholders on how to utilize land under solar panels to promote biodiversity. One path is to plant habitat beneficial to pollinators and other insects, but there have been few long-term studies that examine how different vegetation and seed mixes establish underneath solar panels. This study addresses a scientific gap to determine whether native pollinator seed mixes successfully establish over time under solar arrays using a systematic assessment of eight seed mixes planted at three utility-scale solar sites in Minnesota. We assess establishment with a percent native coverage metric, which is an assessment of native species observations compared to total observations during percent cover analyses in our vegetative test plots. The percent native coverage metric allows for a measurement of how the seed mix established and how the seed mix persists over time. The percent native coverage under and in between the solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays rose from 10% after one year of planting to 58% after three years across all sites, while the native coverage of the full sun control area rose from 9.6% to 70% under the same period, showing that native prairie and pollinator plants successfully established under the array, although to a lesser extent than in full sun conditions. Percent native coverage under the PV arrays rose 5- to 8-fold for each of the three sites from over the course of the study, while the coverage of weeds decreased for all three sites over the same period. Percent native coverage varied by seed mix over the project years, but every seed mix experienced a higher percent native coverage year after year under the PV arrays. Our results did not indicate a difference in establishment across placement within the array; the center, west, and east portions of the areas in between panels had similar establishment rates at two out of three sites, indicating that the same seed mix can be applied throughout the array. Out of 101 plant species seeded, we observed the establishment of 68 species in our vegetative test plots, and we detailed the top 20 observed species to inform future seed mix development. Based on these findings, native pollinator vegetation can establish over time at solar arrays, and it can be suitable for creating habitat at utility-scale solar sites.
作れば来るのか？米国ミネソタ州の太陽光発電施設における生息地の確立に対する昆虫群集の反応 If you build it, will they come? Insect community responses to habitat establishment at solar energy facilities in Minnesota, USA
Leroy J Walston, Heidi M Hartmann, Laura Fox, Jordan Macknick, James McCall, Jake Janski and Lauren Jenkins
Environmental Research Letters Published: 18 December 2023
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/ad0f72
Abstract
Global declines in insect populations have important implications for biodiversity and food security. To offset these declines, habitat restoration and enhancement in agricultural landscapes could mutually safeguard insect populations and their pollination services for crop production. The expansion of utility-scale solar energy development in agricultural landscapes presents an opportunity for the dual use of the land for energy production and biodiversity conservation through the establishment of grasses and forbs planted among and between the photovoltaic solar arrays (‘solar-pollinator habitat’). We conducted a longitudinal field study across 5 years (2018–2022) to understand how insect communities responded to newly established habitat on solar energy facilities in agricultural landscapes by evaluating (1) temporal changes in flowering plant abundance and diversity; (2) temporal changes in insect abundance and diversity; and (3) the pollination services of solar-pollinator habitat by comparing pollinator visitation to agricultural fields near solar-pollinator habitat with other agricultural field locations. We found increases over time for all habitat and biodiversity metrics: floral rank, flowering plant species richness, insect group diversity, native bee abundance, and total insect abundance, with the most noticeable temporal increases in native bee abundance. We also found positive effects of proximity to solar-pollinator habitat on bee visitation to nearby soybean (Glycine max) fields. Bee visitation to soybean flowers adjacent to solar-pollinator habitat were comparable to bee visitation to soybeans adjacent to grassland areas enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, and greater than bee visitation to soybean field interior and roadside soybean flowers. Our observations highlight the relatively rapid (<4 year) insect community responses to grassland restoration activities and provide support for solar-pollinator habitat as a feasible conservation practice to safeguard biodiversity and increase food security in agricultural landscapes.
太陽光発電インフラで在来植生を維持することの環境的コベネフィット Environmental Co-Benefits of Maintaining Native Vegetation With Solar Photovoltaic Infrastructure
Chong Seok Choi, Jordan Macknick, Yudi Li, Dellena Bloom, James McCall, Sujith Ravi
Earth’s Future Published: 06 June 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003542
Abstract
Co-locating solar photovoltaics with vegetation could provide a sustainable solution to meeting growing food and energy demands. However, studies quantifying multiple co-benefits resulting from maintaining vegetation at utility-scale solar power plants are limited. We monitored the microclimate, soil moisture, panel temperature, electricity generation and soil properties at a utility-scale solar facility in a continental climate with different site management practices. The compounding effect of photovoltaic arrays and vegetation may homogenize soil moisture distribution and provide greater soil temperature buffer against extreme temperatures. The vegetated solar areas had significantly higher soil moisture, carbon, and other nutrients compared to bare solar areas. Agrivoltaics in agricultural areas with carbon debt can be an effective climate mitigation strategy along with revitalizing agricultural soils, generating income streams from fallow land, and providing pollinator habitats. However, the benefits of vegetation cooling effects on electricity generation are rather site-specific and depend on the background climate and soil properties. Overall, our findings provide foundational data for site preservation along with targeting site-specific co-benefits, and for developing climate resilient and resource conserving agrivoltaic systems.
Key Points
- Agrivoltaics can be an effective climate mitigation strategy along with providing location specific co-benefits
- Effect of vegetation-induced panel cooling on electricity generation are rather site-specific and depend on climate and soil properties
- Our findings provide foundational data for site preservation and for optimizing agrivoltaic designs by targeting site specific co-benefits
米国の太陽光発電施設における花粉媒介者の生息地による農業利益の可能性を検証する Examining the Potential for Agricultural Benefits from Pollinator Habitat at Solar Facilities in the United States
Leroy J. Walston,Shruti K. Mishra,Heidi M. Hartmann,Ihor Hlohowskyj,James McCall,Jordan Macknick
Environmental Science & Technology Published: May 28, 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b00020
Abstract
Of the many roles insects serve for ecosystem function, pollination is possibly the most important service directly linked to human well-being. However, land use changes have contributed to the decline of pollinators and their habitats. In agricultural landscapes that also support renewable energy developments such as utility-scale solar energy [USSE] facilities, opportunities may exist to conserve insect pollinators and locally restore their ecosystem services through the implementation of vegetation management approaches that aim to provide and maintain pollinator habitat at USSE facilities. As a first step toward understanding the potential agricultural benefits of solar-pollinator habitat, we identified areas of overlap between USSE facilities and surrounding pollinator-dependent crop types in the United States (U.S.). Using spatial data on solar energy developments and crop types across the U.S., and assuming a pollinator foraging distance of 1.5 km, we identified over 3,500 km2 of agricultural land near existing and planned USSE facilities that may benefit from increased pollination services through the creation of pollinator habitat at the USSE facilities. The following five pollinator-dependent crop types accounted for over 90% of the agriculture near USSE facilities, and these could benefit most from the creation of pollinator habitat at existing and planned USSE facilities: soybeans, alfalfa, cotton, almonds, and citrus. We discuss how our results may be used to understand potential agro-economic implications of solar-pollinator habitat. Our results show that ecosystem service restoration through the creation of pollinator habitat could improve the sustainability of large-scale renewable energy developments in agricultural landscapes.
