Solar parks could be used to boost bumblebee numbers, study suggests

(The Guardian, 13 Dec 2021) Lancaster University researchers say sowing wildflowers alongside panels would have benefits for farmers who rely on pollinators.

Solar parks could provide habitats for wildlife – and particularly bumblebees – to flourish, if managed in the right way, benefiting farmers and nature, new research suggests.

There are already 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) of solar parks in the UK, in which arrays of solar panels are installed over a large area, and an estimated 90,000 hectares will be needed. Yet the parks have attracted controversyover claims they are ugly, blight productive land and harm nature.

If solar park owners were encouraged to use the land to sow wildflowers alongside the solar panels, they could become valuable habitats for pollinators, research from Lancaster University has found. Managing them in this way would boost bumblebee numbers beyond the borders of the parks, to about 1km (0.6 miles) away, benefiting farmers who rely on bees to pollinate their crops.

One simulation run by the study group found four times as many bees in a solar park managed as a wildflower meadow than in one based on turf grass.

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The Guardian, 13 Dec 2021: Solar parks could be used to boost bumblebee numbers, study suggests

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