ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
125
HARMONIZING RENEWABLE ENERGY WITH CONSERVATION:
EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH SOLAR FARM DESIGNS
Ahad khan Pyawari
Associated professor, the lecturer of physic department Electro mechanics faculty, Polytechnic
university, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Yaqub Ali Mutahhari
Senior teaching assistant, the lecturer of physic department, Education faculty. Parwan
university, Parwan, Afghanistan.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13358013
Abstract.
Competition among land uses is making it increasingly difficult to set aside
adequate space for wildlife and nature conservation, so it is imperative that opportunities that
simultaneously achieve commercial and conservation outcomes be identified and seized. Such
opportunities exist in the renewable energy industry. It is widely recognized that renewable energy
generation benefits the ecosphere through reduced carbon emissions, but currently, further
opportunities for realizing direct and indirect conservation benefits through the design of solar
farms are less well known. Among other opportunities, solar farm designs that deliver
environmental credits through carbon sequestration and biodiversity improvements can deliver
higher financial returns. Other opportunities to improve local hydrology, pollination, and pest
control services could be available depending on site-specific characteristics where solar farms
are built and the other land use practices that exist or are possible in the immediate vicinity.
Keywords
:
Renewable energy, Solar farms, Conservation, Biodiversity, Urban green
spaces, Energy mix, Public and media relations, Sustainable development.
ГАРМОНИЗАЦИЯ ВОЗОБНОВЛЯЕМОЙ ЭНЕРГИИ С СОХРАНЕНИЕМ:
ИЗУЧЕНИЕ ВОЗМОЖНОСТЕЙ ПОСРЕДСТВОМ ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИЯ
СОЛНЕЧНЫХ ФЕРМ
Аннотация.
Конкуренция среди землепользователей делает все более трудным
выделение достаточного пространства для дикой природы и охраны природы, поэтому
крайне важно выявлять и использовать возможности, которые одновременно достигают
коммерческих и природоохранных результатов. Такие возможности существуют в
отрасли возобновляемой энергетики. Широко признано, что производство возобновляемой
энергии приносит пользу экосфере за счет сокращения выбросов углекислого газа, но в
настоящее время дальнейшие возможности реализации прямых и косвенных
природоохранных выгод за счет проектирования солнечных ферм менее известны. Помимо
других возможностей, проекты солнечных электростанций, обеспечивающие
экологический эффект за счет секвестрации углерода и улучшения биоразнообразия,
могут принести более высокую финансовую отдачу. Другие возможности для улучшения
местных услуг по гидрологии, опылению и борьбе с вредителями могут быть доступны в
зависимости от конкретных характеристик участка, где построены солнечные фермы, и
других методов землепользования, которые существуют или возможны в
непосредственной близости.
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
126
Ключевые слова:
Возобновляемая энергия, Солнечные фермы, Сохранение
биоразнообразия, Городские зеленые насаждения, Энергетический баланс, Связи с
общественностью и СМИ, Устойчивое развитие.
1. Introduction
As countries face the need to reduce exposure to volatile fossil fuel energy prices and
greenhouse gas emissions and improve the security of energy supplies, renewable energy sources
are becoming increasingly important. The European Renewable Energy Council (2010) has set out
a 100% renewable energy vision for The European Union and has analyzed ‘the economic,
environmental and social benefits likely to accompany such a transition.’ Arguably more
realistically, if less ambitiously, the U.K. Government is committed to meeting 15% of the nation’s
energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 as part of its strategy to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and reduce dependency on imported energy supplies.
Looking further ahead, the U.K. government has suggested that ‘renewables will also have
a crucial role to play in the U.K. energy mix in the decades beyond, making the most of the U.K.’s
abundant natural resources’ (Gov. UK 2013). One of the core principles within the National
Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is that ‘planning should.....support the transition to a low
carbon future in a changing climate’ by, inter alia, ‘the development of renewable energy’
(Department for Communities and Local Government 2012).
More specifically, the NPPF stresses the need ‘to help increase the supply of renewable
and low carbon energy, local authorities should recognize the responsibility on all communities to
contribute to energy generation from renewable and low carbon sources’ The development of
energy resources has traditionally had a wide range of contested impacts on the economy, the
environment and everyday life, focused for example, on nuclear power and the reprocessing of
nuclear fuels, major oil spills in marine environments, the closure of coal mines and the effect on
coalfield communities and more recently on the fracking of oil shales. Many of the leading public
and media relations firms have been working on fossil fuel energy issues for many years, and this
work has often been managed in an atmosphere of intense and occasionally hostile public and
media scrutiny.
The mix of renewable energy resources currently includes wind, hydro-electric, tidal,
biomass, and solar power, but a recent study of communication best practices for renewable energy
suggested that ‘although numerous examples of good practice in communications for renewables
were observed in the process of undertaking this study, rigorous, well planned and adequately
evaluated communication strategies were not the norm’ (Collings, Cottrell, and Leopold 2013). In
a similar vein, research undertaken by the CC Group (2012) concluded that ‘investing in
communication activity is becoming of increasing importance to the success of renewable energy
businesses.’ The continuing development of both onshore and offshore wind farms within the
U.K., particularly in northern and western regions, has stirred considerable public, political, and
media controversy. That said, solar energy is the most abundant of all the sources within this mix,
and PricewaterhouseCoopers (2010) has suggested that solar power ‘shows increasing potential as
an alternative to existing fossil fuel sources.’ With this in mind, this paper outlines the
characteristics of solar farms, describes their development within the U.K., examines some of the
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
127
issues raised by these developments, and offers a concluding discussion of the contributions that
public and media relations firms can make to the development of solar farms. (Department for
Communities and Local Government 2012). Human population growth continues to exert
increasing pressure on the land resources upon which we rely for diverse ecosystem services.
Setting aside natural areas for wildlife and nature conservation, land sparing (Box 1;
Fischer et al. 2008) has an important role in maintaining natural resources and the services they
provide. Given the often large and widely distributed areas required to conserve biodiversity and
the necessity of ensuring that such areas are properly managed and protection is enforced (Phalan
et al., 2011), resources available for nature conservation are seldom sufficient. Consequently,
approaches other than land sparing to conserve biodiversity have gained more attention in recent
years, especially in urban landscapes (Ives et al., 2016; Wolch et al., 2014). Urban green spaces,
public parks and gardens, and green roofs and walls support increased biodiversity in patches
across anthropogenic landscapes (Goddard et al.,2010). Further, many of these urban green spaces
are multi-functional, supporting biodiversity, food production (e.g., public gardens and green
roofs), and recreation (e.g., parks and golf courses). Such spaces can also provide additional
benefits of improved air quality (Nowak et al., 2006), better physical and mental health (Ward
Thompson et al., 2012; Wolch et al., 2014), and reduced heat-island effects (Tsilini et al., 2015).
By leveraging these effects, urban designs can contribute to the achievement of the United
Nations’ Sustainability and Development Goals (United Nations, 2015). Beyond urban limits, the
emergence of regenerative agriculture is another example of attempts to simultaneously achieve
financial and conservation benefits. In such landscapes, the construction of solar farms presents
an additional opportunity to codesign facilities that focus on achieving better commercial returns
for agriculture and renewable energy businesses while improving conservation outcomes. Here,
we examine the influence of spatial pairing of agricultural and solar assets and agrivoltaic systems
(Dinesh and Pearce, 2016; Dupraz et al., 2011a) on the achievement of simultaneous benefits
across agriculture, industry, and conservation (Fig. 1; Semeraro et al. 2018).
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
128
Fig. 1. A hypothetical agrivoltaic system in Australia. Solar panels are co-located within
croplands and on existing grazing land. (Semeraro et al. 2018).
Solar Farms
While there is no official definition of a solar farm, it is essentially an area of land on which
a large number of solar panels are deployed to generate electricity, producing very little noise,
having no moving parts, and no harmful emissions. More specifically, solar farms are large arrays
of interconnected solar panels that work together to capture sunlight and convert it directly into
electricity. The active elements within the solar panels are silicon solar cells, which have at least
two layers with positive and negative charges. The electric field across the junction between the
two layers causes electricity to flow when the semiconductor absorbs photons of light and releases
electrons. The electricity so generated is cabled to one or more (depending on the size of the solar
farm) inverters, electrical power converters that change direct current into alternating current
electricity. The output can be connected to both local users and the national grid. Solar energy
generation is at its strongest during the daytime when the demand for electricity is high, and when
the solar farm produces more electricity than is required locally, then the surplus is fed into the
national grid, and when there is a shortfall, extra power can be drawn from the grid.
Globally, the geography of solar farms reflects a number of factors, including operational
economics, global solar energy potential, and access to the national grid. The operational
economics, more particularly consistently advantageous fiscal financial support and grid parity,
has been particularly important in influencing the distribution of solar farms.
In the future, the geographical pattern of solar farms may change as different regions
achieve grid parity. Worldwide solar energy potential is at its lowest in high latitudes and at its
highest in desert areas of Africa and Australia. That said, most of the world’s densely populated
areas, including large areas of Africa, Australia, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, the
southern United States, and Mexico, large areas in South America, and much of southern and
western Europe, offer suitable levels of solar energy potential. Access to national electricity grids,
more particularly proximity to electricity substations or power connectors, is important because
power losses from cables increase with distance.
The Development of Solar Farms in the U.K.
While there is no national register, and hence no definitive information on the number of
solar farms in the U.K. per se, the use of solar power has increased rapidly, albeit from a low base
level, in recent years, and anecdotal and trade evidence clearly suggests that the number of solar
farms is rapidly increasing. Solar Voltaic Energy (2013), for example, listed 91 major
‘solar
energy schemes’
as having been commissioned by April 2013, with a further 56 being classed as
approved or under construction and a further 32 proposed or going through the planning process.
The global irradiation and solar energy potential within the U.K. varies from 980 kilowatt
hours per meter squared in the far north of Scotland to 1240 kilowatt hours per meter squared in
the southwest of England, and it is the southwest and southeast of England where the development
pressure, as evidenced by the number and the scale of solar farm projects, is greatest. While some
solar farms have been developed on brownfield sites, for example, on disused airfields or former
landfill sites, many have been proposed and developed on agricultural land. The Wheal Jane solar
farm was the first to be commissioned in Cornwall.
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
129
It is on the site of a disused tin mine, and the farm’s 5,700 solar panels yield a generating
capacity of 1.5 MW, it can provide electricity for up to 430 homes and saves over 700 tonnes of
carbon dioxide emissions per annum. Somerset’s first solar farm on a 4-hectare site at Sandhill
Park, near Bishops Lydeard, has been providing electricity to some 600 homes since 2011. The
U.K.’s largest solar farm, which had a capacity of 34 M.W., was developed at a cost of £35 million
on a former military airfield at Wymeswold near Loughborough in Leicestershire and became
operational early in 2013. In April 2013, solar farm developers were paying farmers up to £50,000
per annum for a 20-hectare site in the South East and South West of the U.K. and up to £40,000
in the Midlands and East of England, but precise figures reflect annual sunlight levels and other
factors including access and topography.
Solar farm developers typically look for sites offering between 10 and 20 hectares, and
they normally take on the planning costs and risks in funding projects through commissioning.
More specifically, a number of development criteria can be identified in that potential solar
farm sites should:
offer between 10-20 hectares of land of low-grade agricultural land, though there is no
upper limit on size
Ground that is flat or gently sloping and south-facing
not be overlooked from public vantage points or neighboring houses
offer easy access for construction and maintenance work
be free from surrounding buildings or trees that would cast a shadow
not prone to flooding
be free of rights of way
have no underground pipes crossing the land
be in proximity to a major overhead power line
not be in environmentally sensitive areas, areas of archaeological significance, or areas of
significant landscape value
be available to lease for at least 20 years
Potential commercial and environmental returns from agrivoltaic systems
The Opportunities Presented By Designing Land Sharing Schemes That Incorporate
Renewable Energy Production, Agriculture, And Nature Conservation Are Just Starting To Be
Understood And, In A Very Limited Number Of Cases, Realised (Dupraz et al., 2011a; Hernandez
Et Al., 2015; Kiesecker Et Al., 2011; Semeraro Et Al., 2018). Such Opportunities Should Be Vast
Given The Very Considerable Land Areas Globally Being Committed To Renewable Energy
Generation (REN21, 2019; Trainor et al., 2016) And The Extensive Application Of Land To
Agriculture (E.G., 48.6 Million Km2 [37.4% Of Global Land Area]; World Bank Group 2016).
Indeed, The Co-Location Of Photovoltaic (P.V.) Solar Facilities Within Agricultural
Landscapes Can Increase Productivity Of Crops Under Solar Panels (Dupraz et al., 2011b; Marrou
et al., 2013c), Increase Soil Carbon, And Reduce Water Evaporation (Armstrong et al., 2014;
Hassanpour Adeh Et Al., 2018; Marrou Et Al., 2013a).
Understanding the potential benefits and limitations of agrivoltaic systems
P.V. solar farm performance
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
130
Solar farms require ongoing maintenance. This maintenance can include keeping the solar
panels free of debris (e.g., dust, leaves, bird droppings), which can reduce panel efficiency by up
to 7% over extended periods without rain or panel cleaning (Goossens and Van Kerschaever, 1999;
8
Jaszczur et al., 2019; Mejia et al., 2014). Therefore, panels need cleaning periodically to
maintain high levels of energy production (Fig. 2a; Mani & Pillai, 2010; Lovich & Ennen, 2011).
In addition, large-scale P.V. solar farms increase local ambient temperatures and act as heat
islands (Armstrong et al., 2016; Barron-Gafford et al., 2016; Edalat, 2017; Zhang & Xu, 2020)
which can reduce the efficiency and performance of solar panels (Fesharaki et al., 2011; Kande et
al., 2016; Popovici et al., 2016) and have negative impacts on plants and wildlife (Yow, 2007).
Vegetation cover around and under solar panels can reduce this heat-island effect and help
maintain solar panel efficiency (Kande et al., 2016; Tsilini et al., 2015). For example, vegetative
ground cover can reduce the degradation of solar panel backsheets (the protective layer on the
backside of the solar panel). Backsheets protect the internal electrical components from weathering
and act as insolation for the solar panel (Gambogi et al., 2013; Oreski & Wallner, 2005; Voronko
et al., 2015).
Through such design considerations, solar farms have the potential to increase their
financial returns by using grazing livestock for vegetation management to suppress vegetation
from over-shading solar panels. Further, in some systems, native herbivores could be encouraged
to occupy and forage within solar facilities (e.g., kangaroos or wallabies in Australia, pronghorn
antelope in the USA), providing biodiversity benefits, as well as 9 low-cost vegetation
management that may also, in some cases, provide additional income through biodiversity offsets
(Fig. 2c, d).
Fig. 2.
Conceptual model of components and interactions that influence land condition in
agrivoltaic systems. Five major components are summarized through their interactions
(represented by a – f and described in the text): Biodiversity (wildlife habitat, species diversity,
refugia and cover, pollinator and predators, and ecosystem services); Soil and Water (run-off,
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
131
erosion, soil moisture, soil compaction, dust accumulation, nutrients, fertilizers); Vegetation
(ground cover, vegetation complexity, weeds, food production); Maintenance (clearing,
infrastructure, mowing, herbicide use, pesticide use, livestock health, cultivation, and harvest);
Financial returns (carbon credits, electricity production, jobs, site maintenance, pest control, profit
through livestock/crop yields, supplemental feeding for livestock).
Design and placement of solar farms
The installation of solar farms can disturb landscapes through large-scale clearing and site
preparation. The construction of any solar farm will cause some level of disturbance to natural
habitats. The net benefits of building a new farm will depend on at least two factors: the original
quality of the land prior to its current use and its current state. For example, high-quality habitats
that have been degraded in recent years through intense cropping, overgrazing, or other damaging
agricultural or industrial practices have the most to gain from regenerative approaches available
to agrivoltaic systems. Regenerative agriculture coupled with P.V. solar capacity can help improve
the economic profitability and environmental and ecological values of a site. Degraded landscapes
of historically high quality that are selected for regenerative agrivoltaic sites have the potential to
experience the lowest relative degradation and benefit most over the long term, given their current
poor land condition. Of course, many agricultural properties are well-managed and not degraded.
In these cases, landowners may be able to improve low-productivity areas (perhaps with
poor soil nutrients, rocky or undulating land, etc.) through land-sparing patches or co-planting
alongside solar panels. Generally, the design and potential outcomes from agrivoltaic installations
will be site-specific. For example, landscapes that support burrowing species, such as desert
tortoises (
Gopherus agassizii)
or burrowing owls (
Athene cunicularia
), may be adversely affected
if burrows are collapsed by machinery during solar farm construction (Gibson et al., 2017; Lovich
& Ennen, 2011). Ideally, such negative impacts could be minimized by using existing low-quality
habitats and or low-productivity agricultural areas or improving solar farm design and
construction. Many factors determine the suitability of sites for P.V. solar farms, including the
quality of the solar resource (Hernandez et al., 2014; Lovich & Ennen, 2011; Moore-O’Leary et
al., 2017)
Research priorities and recommendations
Typically, solar farms are designed and managed only to produce renewable electricity.
Therefore, it is reasonable for solar farm developers to target locations with the highest
quality solar resources that can easily be connected to electricity grids or local loads. There are,
however, greater financial returns possible by coupling solar farm returns with agricultural
production and environmental restoration and conservation. Agricultural markets are well
developed and understood and can easily be modeled in combination with power production to
create agrivoltic designs that generate greater returns. Environmental markets for carbon and
biodiversity credits and natural capital are much less well-known and are changing rapidly.
Currently, carbon credits, perhaps the best known of these markets, vary by more than an
order of magnitude in price, and it is reasonable to assume the value of these credits will increase
substantially as more carbon reduction targets are legislated and the demand from the voluntary
market continues to expand. Moreover, the opportunity for landholders to access debt and equity
to support their businesses by leveraging their natural capital is only just starting to emerge as a
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
132
financial instrument. Clearly, much more research will be required to understand and capture these
emerging market opportunities. These additional returns can be realized not just by accessing these
additional revenue streams but also by realizing available synergies among different land uses in
close proximity. For example, appropriate ground cover under and in the vicinity of solar panels
could lower running costs for solar facilities while producing carbon and other environmental
credits, such as access to run-off mediation funds, while providing pollination and pest control
services to adjacent horticultural production (Delaney et al., 2020; Li & Waller, 2015).
Consequently, rather than simply focusing only on existing priorities, such as optimizing
the design, placement, and maintenance of solar facilities (Peschel, 2010; Sinha et al., 2018),
considerable opportunities exist to consider how landscapes can be improved, rehabilitated, or
both, through the production of multiple products from a mosaic of land uses in more sustainable
ways. These opportunities exist in a variety of combinations that could include energy production,
shade-tolerant crops, feed for livestock, and wildlife refuges, among others. While the potential to
apply such design principles for simultaneous and improved conservation, sustainability, and
commercial returns clearly exists, understanding how to design for such synergistic outcomes is
in its infancy. A better understanding of these opportunities will arise from research directed to
address specific questions regarding how to determine the most appropriate mix of scales and
patterns of deployment of various land uses. The opportunities for codesign will be complex and
location-specific, depending on a combination of ambient environmental conditions, the
agricultural land uses possible and practiced at that location, the regulatory frameworks under
which such a facility will operate in terms of the environmental costs and credits available, and
the types of technology deployed. Decision support tools will also need to be developed to
optimize these choices in different circumstances. We suggest that future solar projects should
initially explore multiple uses of their sites to achieve better environmental and commercial
outcomes. In its simplest form, an agrivoltaic system might support both energy production and
under-panel crop production. Such a design would reduce the land required for both uses (i.e.,
increase the LER) while supporting at least some biodiversity. Alternatively, an agrivoltaic system
that uses livestock for vegetation management could reduce labor costs for staff to mow or spray
vegetation, support local graziers via leasing solar farmland to feedstock, and incidentally provide
habitat for plant and animal diversity. These co-benefits may be further increased by incorporating
inter-panel vegetation buffers and tree and shrub buffers around solar facilities, especially in
mosaics of other land use systems.
As our knowledge of the opportunities in this space increases, agrivoltaic solar facilities
have the potential to contribute to the rehabilitation, and possibly improvement, of biodiversity on
degraded landscapes of poor ecological and economic value and increasing the economic returns
to solar farms and agriculture while improving land condition and conservation outcomes. Rather
than constructing new facilities on undisturbed native vegetation or green-field sites, even areas
of low biodiversity value, developers could focus instead on reusing degraded landscapes for solar
farm development (Cameron et al., 2012; Milbrandt et al., 2014). Degraded landscapes, overgrazed
land, low-productivity croplands, and sites disturbed by anthropogenic practices are plentiful, and
many could potentially be repurposed. These degraded landscapes are generally under-used, have
poor yield potential, are difficult to cultivate, or have low economic value that makes them
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
133
comparatively inexpensive to acquire. However, some regions may be constrained by access and
proximity to electricity grid connections and access roads for construction.
Alternatively, site selection for solar energy projects may raise local real-estate prices with
the promise of better access to grid power in the vicinity of solar farm installations, thereby
increasing property values or commercial development potential. The reuse of degraded or lower-
quality agricultural land, already modified from its original state, provides an opportunity to
rehabilitate or improve land in support of better agrivoltaic system revenues and improved
biodiversity (Hernandez et al., 2016; Kiesecker et al., 2011). Such modification of existing
landscapes into agricultural, environmental, and energy-generating mosaics will undoubtedly
produce trade-offs whereby one use of the space is compromised in favor of another. Such trade-
offs should be reduced to some extent through careful design and management that minimizes
negative effects and enhances the positive ones (Neilly et al., 2018). P.V. solar farm facilities have
generally conformed to standard designs, with panels situated in rows, generally mounted 1–3 m
off the ground, depending on the racking and mounting system used. Other designs for solar panel
deployment could mitigate, to some extent, the ongoing need for vegetation management (Fig.
2b,f) or allow grazing livestock to access vegetation under panels (Guerin, 2017). Rather than solar
panels sitting close to the ground, if panels were situated at least 2 m above the ground at their
lowest point, many grasses and shrubs would not grow tall enough to block the panels from
sunlight. Further, this may allow additional vegetation types to be incorporated into solar facilities
(e.g., shrubs and low woody vegetation), which could provide more habitat structural complexity,
leading to increased biodiversity (Neilly et al., 2018; Nordberg & Schwarzkopf, 2019). Yet, to our
knowledge, no solar facilities have experimented with the structural design of solar panels in this
manner. Clearly, the additional costs of materials to place solar panels further above ground on
solar farms would need to be offset by savings on vegetation management (mowing, spraying,
etc.), dust control, and income from available environmental credits, and other revenue streams
from producing food or fiber on the same sites. Conversely, on-ground solar arrays are now
available to reduce the costs of deployment while minimizing ground disturbance. These low-
profile placements may provide a better habitat for some kinds of biodiversity but may lead to
increased panel fouling or may interact with other processes in ways we do not yet understand.
Irrespective of the designs deployed, such costs and benefits will need to be considered to
optimize system performance. Again, independent of the solar technology deployed, system
designs and solar panel arrangements could be improved by adding vegetation buffers, shrub and
tree rows, and other patchy vegetation clusters to increase habitat and connectivity for wildlife,
production of livestock and crops, and reduce run-off and erosion. What is certain is that leaving
intact or restoring vegetation clusters and corridors can increase biodiversity and have positive
impacts on species richness and diversity around agricultural landscapes (Burel, 1996; Nordberg
et al., 2021).
Summary and future directions
Increasing the generation of renewable energy has the potential to greatly reduce carbon
emissions and diminish reliance on fossil fuels, but little is yet known about the effect of this
expanding industry on the landscapes on which generation facilities are built or the biodiversity
associated with these sites and the ecosystem services they provide. We are similarly ignorant of
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
134
how to minimize these impacts or access the potential for better environmental and commercial
returns that could be realized through better design of solar facilities in association with other land
uses such as agriculture or conservation. It is clear, however, that the potential exists for increased
net returns from co-locating power generation, agricultural production, and land restoration and
conservation. To understand the size of this potential opportunity, studies quantifying the direct
and indirect effects of solar farms on biodiversity and agricultural production, and vice versa, are
needed. There is urgency in this need for greater understanding, especially given the current rapid
growth of solar farm construction. As our knowledge of how to access these opportunities expands,
the placement of new solar farms should be carefully considered to minimize negative effects on
ecological communities, as should the co-location of new facilities within existing disturbed
agricultural landscapes. Designing mosaics of land uses that provide multiple economic benefits
to multiple industries will reduce the negative effects of multiple land uses and provide enhanced
revenue for multiple industries, both through reduced maintenance costs and increased production.
By designing future solar farms in partnerships with solar farm developers, agriculturalists,
economists, and conservation ecologists, we can achieve more sustainable and regenerative
outcomes for environmental, agricultural, and power generation.
Discussion
A growing number of public and media relations companies are working on solar farm
developments and proposals for a range of clients, and this work embraces managing
communication activities, community engagement, awareness-raising campaigns, informing and
shaping public opinion, working with farmers and land owners to help them realize the potential
of solar farm development, helping to position local authorities as leaders in the renewable energy
sector, working to attract investment into solar farms, and overcoming community opposition to
specific developments. A few simple illustrative examples give some impression of the nature of
this work. Collings and Money, for example, claims to offer a full marketing and communication
service to solar farm developers, including marketing and communications strategy and planning,
copywriting and the dissemination of press releases, securing editorial opportunities in the trade
press, negotiating and implementing advertisement campaigns, managing advertisement
schedules, securing speaking engagements at conferences, managing participation at exhibitions
and designing and managing print and online marketing materials Athene Communications
worked with Lark Energy on community engagement for the large solar farm development at
Wymeswold mentioned earlier. In reporting on this project, Athene Communications (2013)
emphasized that Lark Energy’s belief that
‘with the solar industry under continuing time pressure
because of frequent changes in clean energy support rates….a proactive approach to community
engagement and stakeholder management made all the difference to ensure smoother planning
process.’
Athene’s approach to the project included community audits, a statement of community
engagement, the delivery of a preplanning application engagement and consultation program,
feedback to the community, and a troubleshooting service. The community audits, for example,
focused on research designed to help demonstrate an understanding of local people’s opinions and
align engagement with their interests, while troubleshooting involved providing mediation
services to proactively manage objectors within a community.
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
135
Within the US, Solargen Energy has worked with a strategic communications company,
Passantino Andersen, to help overcome community opposition to the development of a solar farm
in the remote Panoche Valley in San Benito County in northern California. The site of the proposed
development was a traditional haven for bird watchers and a few kilometers from a number of
small organic farms. Local
farmers and wildlife and environmental groups campaigned against the proposal, and the
developers and Solargen engaged Passantino Andersen to address the campaigners’ concerns,
build alliances, and mobilize supporters to overcome opposition influence and create a political
climate that would favor timely government approval. The communications company conducted
public opinion research designed to identify likely supporters and opponents and the issues of
importance to both audiences, looked to develop compelling messages that would help to foster a
sense of ownership for the solar farm amongst the target audiences, offer something of value to
the area that it would not otherwise receive and to keep communications constant and consistent
in order to maintain control over the debate. In devising its messaging, for example, given the high
unemployment rate within the county,
Passantino Andersen stressed the importance of the economic benefits the solar farm would
generate and the developer’s commitment to provide $10 million to offset property tax exemption.
At the same time, government decision-makers were fully briefed on opinion poll research results,
the benefits of the proposed development, stakeholder engagement, and levels of public support
in an attempt to build and maintain their confidence.
More specifically, Collings, Cottrell, and Leopold (2013) made seven recommendations
for communications strategies in the renewable energy sector, namely that:
development of renewable energy campaigns should be approached as a process with
clearly defined stages
partnering and pooling resources should be undertaken more often to increase funding for
renewable energy communication campaigns
pre-campaign research in renewable energy communications should be more thorough and
aimed at getting a better understanding of public opinion about renewable energy
behavioral economics findings should be applied to the development of renewable energy
communications
more innovative and emotive messaging of renewable energy communications would elicit
more positive responses
ongoing and post-campaign evaluation should be consistently applied for quality control at
all stages of renewable energy communication processes
communication strategies should be more proactive in responding to negative media
coverage of renewable energy.’
In Concluding Their Study, Collings, Cottrell, And Leopold (2013) Suggest That An
International Survey Designed To ‘Identify Specific Misconceptions Held By A Range Of
Population Segments’ And The Development Of ‘A Communications Knowledge Platform For
Renewable Energy To Pool Information And Knowledge From A Number Of Stakeholders’
Would ‘Have The
ISSN:
2181-3906
2024
International scientific journal
«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 8 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
136
Potential To Bring Significant Practical And Theoretical Contributions To Overcoming
Current Renewable Energy Communication Challenges.
CONCLUSION
The aim of such type of township (solar farm) is to become self-independent on electricity
requirements along with distribution of it and also to learn optimum usage of energy of daily
requirements in terms of electricity, water, food, land, and proper distribution of work. In the
future, It will help the group (or society) to be energy-independent, financially independent, and
food-independent, improve eating habits and work culture, make life simple and better, and
improve the standard of living in a hygienic condition.
REFERENCES
1.
Abbasi, S.A., Abbasi, N., 2000. The likely adverse environmental impacts of renewable
energy sources. Appl. Energy 65, 121–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6701
(00)92689-4.
2.
Armstrong, A., Ostle, N.J., Whitaker, J., 2016. Solar park microclimate and vegetation
management effects on grassland carbon cycling. Environ. Res. Lett. 11 (7), 074016.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/7/074016
3.
Armstrong, A., Waldron, S., Whitaker, J., Ostle, N.J., 2014. Wind farm and solar park
effects on plant-soil carbon cycling: Uncertain impacts of changes in ground-level
microclimate. Glob. Chang. Biol. 20 (6), 1699–1706. https://doi.org/10.1111/ gcb.12437.
4.
Barron-Gafford, G.A., Minor, R.L., Allen, N.A., Cronin, A.D., Brooks, A.E., Pavao-
Zuckerman, M.A., 2016. The photovoltaic heat island effect: Larger solar power plants
increase local temperatures. Sci. Rep. 6, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/ srep35070.
5.
Bridle, R., Leopold, A., Collings, J., & Cottrell, J. (2013). RE-COMMUNICATE:
Communication Best-Practices for Renewable Energies. Scoping Study.
6.
Burel, F., 1996. Hedgerows and Their Role in Agricultural Landscapes. CRC. Crit. Rev.
Plant Sci. 15 (2), 169–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352689.1996.10393185
7.
Cameron, D.R., Cohen, B.S., Morrison, S.A., 2012. An approach to enhance the
conservation-compatibility of solar energy development. PLoS One 7. https://doi.
org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038437
8.
Connor, R. (2015).
The United Nations world water development report 2015: water for a
sustainable world
(Vol. 1). UNESCO publishing.
9.
Cypher, B.L., Westall, T.L., Spencer, K.A., Meade, D.E., Kelly, E.C., Dart, J., Job,
C.L.V.H., 2019. Response of San Joaquin kit foxes to the Topaz solar farms: Implications
for conservation of kit foxes
10.
Dawson, S., Gritsan, A., Logan, H., Qian, J., Tully, C., & Van Kooten, R. (2013).
Working
group report: Higgs boson
(No. arXiv: 1310.8361; FERMILAB-CONF-13-671-T). Fermi
National Accelerator Lab.(FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States).
11.
Delaney, A., Dembele, A., Nombr´e, I., Gnane Lirasse, F., Marshall, E., Nana, A., Vickery,
J., Tayleur, C., Stout, J.C., Requier, F., 2020. Local-scale tree and shrub diversity improves
pollination services to shea trees in tropical West African parklands. J. Appl. Ecol. 57
