You may have picked up that there has been quite a lot of media attention around the increase in proposals for large scale solar panel installations (or ‘solar farms’) in the region lately. The Conservation Team at the RSPB in the East comments on lots of planning applications each year to safeguard the region’s wildlife and habitats, and have already commented on eighteen solar farm proposals in the past three months.
Sunset over Wallasea Island, Essex - Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
The solar ‘gold rush’ is thought to have been triggered by a reduction in government subsidies for large-scale solar installations after April 2013. Companies are therefore keen to progress schemes while the benefits are greatest.
Overall, increasing renewable energy generation is a vital part of preventing the worst effects of climate change. Solar power can play an important role in this, but providing clean energy must not lead to unacceptable impacts on our wildlife and habitats. The main concern about effects of solar farms on wildlife is the potential for loss of important habitat for vulnerable species, especially feeding sites and areas to breed. Although this may not be a permanent change (as the solar panels can be removed in the future) when important habitat is rare effects on wildlife could be serious. This is most likely to happen if proposals are located within, or close to, protected areas, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Special Protection Areas.
So far, solar farm proposals in the east have avoided these kinds of protected areas but we still carefully screen and comment on those in the wider countryside that we are able to respond to, to protect our important wildlife there too. Thankfully, we have not had to object to any proposals that we have been consulted on in the east to date, as significant effects on wildlife and the natural environment have been avoided.
In some cases it can be possible to amend the scale or design of a proposal to remove or reduce impacts and we recommend this for proposals that risk having negative effects on wildlife. For example, there is potential for aquatic insects such as dragonflies and damselflies to be attracted to lay eggs on solar panels. This may be avoided by the simple measure of adding obvious borders to each panel to reduce the effect.
Where solar farm applications may affect farmland wildlife, such as farmland birds of conservation concern, we encourage developers to incorporate features like hedgerows and flower rich field margins around the solar farm so loss of important habitat can be avoided. This can lead to a net gain for other wildlife, such as insects and small mammals, as the features that are put in place often provide more opportunities for wildlife than the habitat that was available before.
Wildflowers - Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
So all in all, how solar panels will affect wildlife depends a lot on location, and scale. Our aim is to make sure solar farm proposals don’t risk unacceptable harm to wildlife and habitats and deliver biodiversity benefits. This way, the fortunes of wildlife in our wider countryside can be improved at the same time as fighting dangerous climate change.
What are your views?