The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $14 million in funding for researchers studying how solar-powered infrastructure interacts with wildlife and ecosystems. These projects represent approximately $100 million of DOE to invest in innovative, cost-effective solutions to minimize the wildlife impacts of renewable energy technologies and maximize their environmental benefits. part of the Renewable Energy Research Portfolio. As renewable energy deployment expands to address the climate crisis and meet President Biden’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the DOE believes that renewable energy deployment will continue to grow. We support research to ensure that it also benefits native wildlife and ecosystems.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said: “His DOE’s first-ever investment in tools to better understand how solar energy infrastructure interacts with native wildlife and the environment will encourage the adoption of ecologically friendly clean energy deployments. It helps promote.”
“If we want a planet our children and grandchildren can live in, we need to get serious about renewable energy sources, including solar power. We need to do more research so that we can protect and protect ecosystems and wildlife when the time comes,” said Senator Richard Durbin, Illinois. “Congratulations to the Argonne scientist who was chosen to lead this research, encouraged by his DOE’s trust in Argonne National Laboratory, a world-class research facility in Illinois.”
Senator Martin Heinrich (NM) said: The investment will allow researchers such as Sandia National Laboratories and New Mexico’s Wildlands Network to study the impacts of utility-scale solar installations and concentrating solar power projects to help birds, mammals, and healthy ecosystems. Help develop data-backed strategies to protect your system. .”
US Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) said: “This important investment in research will help ensure that we can protect wildlife while transitioning to a clean energy future.”
“As we build a clean energy future, green technology must coexist with wildlife and help our environment thrive,” said US Senator Edward Markey, MA. “We are thrilled that this funding will support important research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, because we are not just the Bay State, we are the Brain State. These federal dollars will help UMass Amherst can contribute to a growing body of research that underpins our clean energy economy, expands our understanding of the relationship between birds and insects and renewable energy, Both economies will thrive.”
Developing solar energy can benefit local communities, protect native wildlife, and foster healthy ecosystems. However, there is little data on the wildlife impacts of large-scale solar installations, making it difficult for developers to use best practices when building and managing solar installations. With this investment, DOE is taking important steps to address this research gap. Additionally, new solutions, such as establishing pollinator habitats under solar arrays, can support insects and other wildlife that pollinate crops. These are a class of benefits known as ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration and improved soil and water quality.
Through the Solar Energy Installations with Wildlife and Ecosystem Services Benefits (SolWEB) funding program, researchers will study the interactions of solar energy installations in 26 states with pronghorns, pollinators, birds, and other species. to study The funding program also includes his DOE’s first investment in a tool that helps assess and optimize the ecosystem services of solar installations.
Projects addressing interaction with wildlife ($8.8 million):
- Cornell University (Ithaca, NY): US$2 million to use new technology to quantify insect biodiversity and pollinator communities at a solar power facility.
- Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute (Washington, DC): To design and build a solar-wildlife data-sharing infrastructure that enables stakeholders to assess solar-wildlife interactions and improve wildlife management practices. $600,000.
- Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, N.M.): $2 million to develop smart surveillance technology to monitor bird activity and research countermeasures to prevent bird mortality at centralized solar power plants.
- University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, Arkansas): Biology at large-scale solar power plants to understand the interaction and benefits of the sun and wildlife from native vegetation management practices in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. $1.3 million to assess diversity.
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, Massachusetts): Investing $1.2 million to conduct the first assessment of bird breeding success at a solar farm, applying novel bioacoustic Monitor insect activity.
- Wildlands Network (Santa Fe, NM): $1.7 million to assess the response of pronghorns and other mammals to the installation of utility-scale solar energy systems in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Projects addressing ecosystem services ($5.3 million):
- Argonne National Laboratory (Remont, IL): Investing $2 million to develop a nationwide soil data collection system at solar facilities that will enable assessment of soil health and soil ecosystem services.
- Cornell University (Ithaca, NY): US$1.5 million to develop tools to assess the costs and benefits of the ecosystem services provided by large-scale solar installations, to support the solar industry and the Northeast. Give it to the host community.
- Great Plains Institute (Minneapolis, Minnesota): $1.8 million to create an equitable ecosystem services framework based on Midwestern host communities and tribal priorities.
The funding complements a strong research portfolio on renewable energy development and wildlife. The DOE has invested more than $30 million of his research into understanding how birds, bats and marine animals interact with wind turbines and developing techniques to mitigate their impact. DOE has invested over US$40 million in hydropower and ocean energy research to protect fish, other wildlife, oceans and rivers, including fish transit and protection technologies in hydropower. An opportunity to raise US$4 million to advance is approaching. DOE also supports research into solar energy development to monitor bird interactions and maximize benefits to pollinators, soil, and water.
