Solar panel, vegetation management and legacy effects on vegetation in Western European solar parks
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The rapid development of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic electricity production, impacts natural and semi-natural habitats such as grasslands. The construction of solar parks involves earthworks usually destroying a part of the above-ground vegetation, related organisms and ecosystem services. However, subsequent management by grazing or cutting may also contribute to the création or restoration of semi-natural grasslands. We analysed the effects of solar panels, vegetation management and previous land use (legacy effect) on plant community characteristics such as cover, species richness, light indicator values and species composition in European solar parks. We used different data sets obtained from 2016 to 2025 in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, including 161 solar parks and 2429 survey plots. Our results showed that solar panels significantly reduced plant cover and species richness compared to inter-rows or plots outside the panels array. We also found significantly lower light indicator values under panels, reflecting a shift towards shade-tolerant vegetation. Surprisingly, vegetation management did not have a significant main effect on plant communities, but showed a significant interaction with plot location (under panels, inter-row or outside the panels array). Grazing and/or cutting changed the plant community composition only under panels but not between panel rows (inter-row) or outside panel arrays. Finally, a legacy effect of pre-construction habitats was detected. Species richness was lowest in former woodlands and highest in former industrial fields. Our study highlights the specific need for restoration measures to favour the colonisation by shade-tolerant species under panels and to introduce grassland species in solar parks on former woodlands, particularly in woodland dominated landscapes.
Authors: Lucas Etienne, Louison Bienvenu, Hollie Blaydes, Fabio Carvalho, Sandra Dullau, Aure Durbecq, Raphaël Gros, Francis Isselin-Nondedeu, Quentin Lambert, Arnaud Lec’hvien, Rachel McCrea, Hannah Montag, Bertrand Schatz, Franziska Schrodt, Lucy Treasure, Noelline Tsafack, Piran C L White, Felix Zitzmann, Alona Armstrong, Armin Bischoff
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie Marine et Continentale, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université de Tours, CItés, Territoires, Environnement et Sociétés, Lancaster University, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Laboratoire d'Ecophysiologie Végétale, Agronomie & nutritions N.C.S, Université de Caen Normandie, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, University of Nottingham, University of York, Leibniz University Hannover
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,050
OpenAlex ID: W7202357257