What is a solar park?

Solar parks are mega solar projects to fast track renewable energy integration, while avoiding redundancy in electro-mechnical infrastruturing and land acquiring procedures. However these ground-mounted grid-integrated solar photovoltaic projects require vast land banks, which remain covered for the lifetime of the project..

Can solar parks improve the local environment?

Given their relatively rapid introduction, the impacts on land use and the local environment are poorly understood. However, if deployed and managed strategically, solar parks could offer unique opportunities to enhance the local environment and benefit biodiversity, with implications for ecosystem components such as pollinators.

Are solar parks sustainable?

Ensuring beneficial management of rapidly growing solar parks contributes to their wider environmental sustainability, with positive implications for both pollinator conservation and the energy sector in general. 1. Introduction

How do solar parks affect ecosystem function?

Given the projected deployment of photovoltaics, increasing land use pressures, and growing recognition of the importance of our ecosystems, there is a critical need for better understanding of the temperature impacts of solar parks and associated cascading impacts on ecosystem function.

Does agrivoltaic research affect the impact of solar parks?

Extensive literature review conclude that agrivoltaic research with respect to impact of solar parks were focused on (i) land coverage and associated environmental issues (ii) microclimate changes (iii) economics of agrivoltaics based on crop selection (iv) Design of structures and levelised cost of energy.

How will land use change affect ground-mounted solar parks?

As solar PV capacity rises there will be increased land take for ground-mounted solar parks and to ensure optimal ecosystem outcomes associated with this land use change, the local environment and biodiversity must be considered.