Planted alongside 7,000 solar modules over several acres in Kane County, are pesticide-free, native flowering plants providing vegetation for bees, butterflies and other pollinators to thrive.
“We often see birds nesting around the panels. We find a lot of bees’ nests on the panels. We see foxes, smaller wildlife, love this kind of habitat,” said Keith Hevenor, the communications manager for Nexamp, a solar storage company co-headquartered in Chicago.
Nexamp is one of several solar companies installing pollinator-friendly projects in Illinois as part of an effort to build more robust habitats for the critical components of the world’s agricultural practices.
They work with contractors to design custom seed mixes that include native pollinator vegetation.
“Black Eyed Susan, Yarrow, we’re seeing a whole variety of clovers, daises, fleabane,” said Hevenor.
Agrivoltaics is the dual-use practice of co-locating agricultural activities, including crop growth, livestock grazing, and pollinator habitats with solar photovoltaic power generation on the same land, according to the United States Department of Energy.
The plots require very little maintenance and almost no mowing. The company leases the land from farmers.
According to Hevenor, French Road Solar in Burlington, Illinois is located on a plot of farmland that was “less productive” than the rest.
“So, this is a good way to put that to use and keep the viability of the farm,” he said. “One down season can really hurt a farmer. But in this case, they can count on those lease payments for the long term.”
Planting deep-rooted, native vegetation helps maintain the land for future use, and create a habitat now for pollinators.
Some studies also show pollinating insects can benefit agriculture, increasing the quality and quantity of crop yields and can be useful in pest and disease control.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as much as 35% of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce.
Chicago-based Trajectory Energy partners is another solar company using agrovoltaics. Trajectory has planted 80 “pollinator-friendly” solar sites across the state.
The clearest numbers come from Spanish solar plants studied by EMAT, an independent environmental consultancy, and highlighted by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF). In Minglanilla (Cuenca), researchers identified 32 bird species inside the solar plant, compared with 19 in the nearby agricultural control area.
The pattern also appeared elsewhere. Revilla Vallejera (Burgos) recorded 39 species inside the solar site and 34 outside, while Trujillo (Cáceres) recorded 31 species inside and 25 outside. These are not vague hopes about green energy. They are species counts from real facilities.
What kinds of birds are moving in? UNEF says the sites have documented species of special ecological interest, including stone-curlew, little bustard, roller, little owl, and lesser kestrel. As insects and small prey return, raptors such as eagles, vultures, kites, harriers, falcons, and owls can also find reasons to hunt there.
Many people do not know that the whole insect biomass of Earth (a huge number) has dropped by 25% since 1990. This will affect numerous insectivores like fish, birds, bats, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_in_insect_populations
Possible causes: climate change, insecticides (including neonicotinoids), pollution (including micro and nano plastics)
thanks for flagging- very important context