Ecovoltaics: Framework and future research directions to reconcile land-based solar power development with ecosystem conservation

Renewable energy production is gaining momentum globally as a way to combat climate change without drastically reducing human energy consumption. Solar energy offers the fastest developing solution. However, ground-mounted solar panels have a high land requirement, which leads to conflicts with other land use types, particularly agriculture and biodiversity conservation. The dual land use of agrivoltaics, i.e., continuing agricultural production under and between solar panels, may alleviate farmers’ concerns, but less effort has been made to reconcile solar development with biodiversity conservation. Here we provide a framework for creating a win-win situation for this growing challenge using recent literature on solar park habitats complemented with ecological theories. We also highlight important knowledge gaps that future research should address. Our framework uses a unique land-sharing approach and is based on five pillars that cover key aspects of solar park planning and maintenance: (1) eco-smart siting in the landscape, which considers ecological interactions with the landscape matrix and trade-offs between multiple small vs. fewer large solar parks; (2) eco-smart park layout to address the ecological aspects of the spatial configuration of solar park infrastructure; (3) creation of diverse, novel grassland ecosystems with high ecosystem service provisioning capacity using a trait-based ecosystem design approach; (4) management of the novel ecosystem throughout the lifespan of the solar parks; and (5) ensuring stakeholder engagement to integrate this in a viable business model with high community acceptance. With this framework, we open the way for a new multifunctional land use type: the ecovoltaic park