In this contributed article, Callum Goodwin, senior ecologist at Biodiverse Consulting, discusses the impact of solar energy on biodiversity and calls for a coherent national approach to planning guidance and data collection to ensure that solar power plants deliver measurable biodiversity benefits.
This month, renewable energy became the world’s leading source of electricity, a major milestone in the fight against climate change. This is the culmination of decades of investment in clean energy technologies and marks the beginning of a bigger challenge: scaling these technologies responsibly and ensuring that our transition to net zero is also positive for nature.
As part of its Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, the UK government has set ambitious renewable energy targets, with solar energy playing a central role. However, as the stakes increase, so does the public debate. Critics claim that solar farms disrupt the rural landscape, threaten nature or ‘industrialise’ the countryside.
In reality Well-designed solar parks have a limited negative impact on biodiversity and become catalysts for habitat restoration, long-term research and nature-positive design.
Fact versus fiction
Contrary to the belief that solar projects damage natural land, most are built on sites of low ecological value, such as species-poor grassland. The UK planning system includes robust safeguards that prevent the development of sensitive habitats or areas that support vulnerable species.
Before a solar project gets off the ground, extensive environmental surveys and assessments must be carried out to identify local flora and fauna, protected species and ecological networks. These findings provide the basis for mitigation strategies that protect or enhance these assets.
For example, if breeding birds or small mammals are present, exclusion zones can be established or new habitats can be created to mitigate or offset potential impacts. We are also seeing increasing investment in off-site biodiversity gains to ensure that unavoidable impacts elsewhere in the nearby landscape are balanced.
According to the Environmental Act 2021, solar energy projects must also result in an increase in biodiversity of at least 10%. This means introducing new hedgerows, flower meadows, trees or ponds, all creating mosaics of habitats that support diverse species.
If we look beyond the misconceptions, it is likely that solar farms will not have a detrimental effect on nature, but instead provide meaningful biodiversity benefits.
A unique opportunity
When it comes to environmental improvements, solar farms offer a unique opportunity on a landscape scale. Each new solar project funds extensive research, data collection and monitoring, activities that would otherwise rely on limited public or charitable funding. As a result, the solar sector is building an increasingly detailed picture of how local ecosystems function and change over time.
Basic ecological research records the distribution of local species, while post-construction monitoring shows how habitats develop in the long term. The results often show that areas once dominated by monocultures have been transformed into species-rich grasslands, with the ability to support pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies, while improving soil health and carbon sequestration.
It is important that the ground under and between the solar panels is not ‘dead space’. Panels provide shade and shelter that help create microhabitats, support diverse vegetation structures and improve habitat quality.
Just as the wind energy sector has improved marine and bird ecology through rigorous monitoring, solar energy offers similar insights for terrestrial biodiversity. As research accumulates, we learn which habitat creation techniques work best, refining our design standards and continually raising the bar for environmental performance.
Closing the holes
Although the sector’s contribution to biodiversity is growing, there is still room for improvement, especially in the areas of policy consistency and data collection.
Currently, local planning authorities (LPAs) apply different standards when assessing solar projects. Survey methodologies, mitigation requirements, and even how the land is classified under the panels may vary by municipality. This inconsistency creates uncertainty for developers and limits the comparability of ecological results across projects and regions.
A more coherent national approach, through clearer planning guidelines and shared ecological data, could ensure that every solar farm delivers measurable biodiversity benefits.
Another important opportunity lies in long-term monitoring of species. Although BNG legislation requires habitat monitoring over a 30-year period, this focuses on the habitats themselves, and not the species that use them.
Required and consistent monitoring of species could provide valuable insights into how solar farms impact biodiversity over time. This would not only improve the ecological performance of future solar projects, but also inform broader land management practices.
In short: better data means better decisions.
The power to recover
Solar parks do not pose a threat to nature. When designed and managed responsibly, they are vehicles for habitat creation, ecological research and increasing biodiversity in the long term. They represent one of the few forms of development that can simultaneously reduce carbon emissions and improve our understanding of local biodiversity.
There is of course still work to be done. Achieving consistency across planning authorities and embedding long-term monitoring will ensure that the sector continues to strengthen its environmental performance and improve its design approach. But the direction of travel is clear: solar energy is evolving from a purely technological solution to a tool for environmental research and restoration.
By recognizing and seizing these opportunities, we can ensure that solar energy contributes not only to decarbonization, but also to a more connected, resilient and ecologically supportive landscape.
