This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Using solar energy is good for the environment, but look down, and the grass isn't always greener. Solar farms can generate massive amounts of renewable energy, but when they're built in natural areas, they change the growing conditions underneath the panels.
That can make it easy for native grasses to be squeezed out by invasive weeds and non-native plants. On top of that, fast-growing turf or other non-native grasses are often used as a less costly, more convenient replacement in reclamation efforts. Now, a new University of Alberta study is shedding light on how to give native vegetation a better foothold by exploring how plants and grasses respond to the microclimates created by solar panels.
It's environmentally important to identify native grasses that can thrive under the panels because they offer many more ecological benefits than non-native species, says Fengxue Zheng, who led the study published in Ecological Engineering to earn a master of science in rangeland and wildlife resources in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. "Native grasslands are one of the rarest ecosystems remaining in the aspen parkland, so every opportunity for restoration is valuable," says Zheng. "They're the most resilient and beneficial choice when replanting vegetation after solar farms are constructed, as they provide improved soil stability, soil carbon storage, water infiltration and refuge for pollinators.
And they're also low-maintenance once they're established." One of the few studies to explore how solar panels affect seeded grass establishment in Canada's cooler aspen parkland region, the work was conducted on old cropland at the kīsikāw pīsim solar farm in the North Saskatchewan River valley in Edmonton. Former fields are often used for solar farms. Studying the survival of seven seeded native grass species over two years, the researchers examined how solar panels altered shaded areas directly underneath, partially shaded areas along the panel edges and sunny areas in the open spaces between rows of panels.
They measured factors like soil temperature, moisture and light, then analyzed how those changes affected plant growth and diversity, ground coverage, the types of plants growing in each area, and how successfully the planted native grasses grew and blocked out invasive weeds. The research also compared dry sites with wet areas where rainwater had pooled in puddles. The solar panels had varying effects on vegetation.
In the open spaces between panels, plants got nearly 12 times more sunlight, the soil was about 3.2 C warmer, and the soil was 12% drier than in shaded spots directly under the panels. The open spaces also had more than twice as many plant species growing as the shaded areas. Wetter areas in lower-lying spots, where water accumulated after solar farm construction, grew 68% more vegetation and nearly double the amount of grass compared with dry areas in higher spots.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
