Montevideo Solar Ecosystem Design

Can 'ecovoltaics' improve ecosystem services & energy generation?

We argue that co-prioritizing ecosystem services and energy generation using an ecologically informed, ‘ecovoltaics’ approach to solar array design and operation will have multiple benefits for climate, biodiversity and the restoration of degraded lands.

Can ecovoltaic systems protect plants from droughts and heatwaves?

Indeed, in particularly harsh ecosystems, ecovoltaic designs could provide refuge from droughts and heatwaves, and the spatiotemporally dynamic microenvironments promote resource complementarity, niche differentiation and habitat conservation that goes beyond the static protection of plant communities.

Can PV panels improve plant diversity?

As noted above, the structural complexity imparted by PV panels may also provide the habitat amelioration that is necessary for facilitating increased plant diversity at small spatial scales in these ecosystems.

How do PV panels affect ecological processes?

In particular, variability in light and the redistribution of precipitation shed from PV panels can strongly influence ecological processes below. For example, PV arrays have been shown to alter patterns of grassland plant productivity 8, 9, phenology 10 and nutrient content of the plants beneath arrays 11.

Which ecosystem is best for a ground-based PV array?

Ecosystems that would typically be described as relatively “open” (Figure 1; in contrast to closed canopy forests), with relatively high insolation, low precipitation, and short-statured vegetation are ideal for ground-based PV arrays.

Should PV arrays be based on ecological principles?

Here we argue that, in many settings, PV arrays should be designed on the basis of ecological principles to unperpin a more sustainable energy future: an approach that we term ‘ecovoltaics’.