ERE1.7

Our research is aligned to the expansion of energy crops with a view to future developments in greenhouse gas removal and we need to ensure that does not have a detrimental effect on the surrounding environment.

Miscanthus is a sustainable bioenergy crop which is wildlife-friendly and will grow on otherwise unproductive land. Mature crops do not require fertilizer thereby ensuring low nitrous oxide emissions. Miscanthus x giganteus (M x g) as a sterile clone, has been propagated vegetatively, with relatively high establishment costs and low multiplication rates. New seed-propagated hybrids, with the potential of upscaling the crop for greater provision, are being readied for market and in crop trials over Europe.

Projections are presented from research involving the international GRACE project and the Supergen SUMMER project. We determine the potential for miscanthus growth and environmental impact, using the hybrids under 21st century climate conditions. We show yield projections which have been modelled using crop trial data across different European countries together with simulations from the MiscanFor model for agricultural soil carbon sequestration and water deficit.

How to cite: Shepherd, A., Awty-Carroll, D., Kam, J., Ashman, C., Magenau, E., Martani, E., Kontek, M., Ferrarini, A., Amaducci, S., Davey, C., Al Hassan, M., Jurišić, V., Lamy, I., Lewandowski, I., de Maupeou, E., McCalmont, J., Trindade, L., Kiesel, A., Clifton-Brown, J., and Hastings, A. and the Anita Shepherd1: Comparing miscanthus hybrids – growth and environmental impacts, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-170, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-170, 2022.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) based on purpose-grown lignocellulosic crops can provide negative CO₂ emissions to mitigate climate change, but its land requirements present a threat to biodiversity. Here, we analyse the implications of crop-based BECCS for global terrestrial vertebrate species richness, considering both the land-use change (LUC) required for BECCS and the climate change prevented by BECCS. LUC impacts are determined using global-equivalent, species-area relationship-based loss factors. We find that sequestering 0.5–5 Gtonne of CO₂ per year with lignocellulosic crop-based BECCS would require hundreds of Mha of land, and commit tens of terrestrial vertebrate species to extinction. Species loss per unit of negative emissions decreases with: i) longer lifetimes of BECCS systems, ii) less overall deployment of crop-based BECCS, and iii) optimal land allocation, i.e., prioritising locations with lowest species loss per negative emission potential, rather than minimising overall land use or prioritising locations with lowest biodiversity. The consequences of prevented climate change for biodiversity are based on existing climate response relationships. Our tentative comparison shows that for crop-based BECCS considered over 30 years, LUC impacts on vertebrate species richness may outweigh the positive effects of prevented climate change. Conversely, for BECCS considered over 80 years, the positive effects of climate change mitigation on biodiversity may outweigh the negative effects of LUC. However, both effects and their interaction are highly uncertain and require further understanding, along with analysis of additional species groups and biodiversity metrics. We conclude that factoring in biodiversity means lignocellulosic crop-based BECCS should be used early to achieve the required mitigation over longer time periods, on optimal biomass cultivation locations, and most importantly, as little as possible where conversion of natural land is involved, looking instead to sustainably grown or residual biomass-based feedstocks and alternative strategies for carbon dioxide removal.

How to cite: Hanssen, S., Steinmann, Z., Daioglou, V., Cengic, M., van Vuuren, D., and Huijbregts, M.: Global implications of lignocellulosic crop-based BECCS for terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8855, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8855, 2022.

Brazil is the global frontrunner in the production of sugarcane ethanol. Strong national biofuels policies, a consolidated internal demand for ethanol for transportation purposes, and a global growing demand for sugar and ethanol have supported this development. The sugarcane ethanol industry has contributed to economic growth, technological progress, job creation and is among the key strategies for mitigating CO₂ emissions in Brazil. However, the industry is also responsible for a wide range of undesirable impacts on land. Biodiversity loss, structural soil degradation, pollution, and depletion of water sources can result from the associated direct and indirect land-use change. We therefore assess the potential of a carbon capture and utilization pathway to increase the fuel production of this industry in a land-neutral way. 

The pathway combines the almost clear surplus CO₂-stream from the ethanol fermentation process with H₂ produced using wind and solar power to synthesize methanol. The change of use of land from sugarcane production to renewable electricity generation is an intensification step which allows to spare significant amounts of land.

To understand the implications of this pathway in terms of land-use and cost, we develop a spatio-temporal model to determine the cost-optimal system configuration, the resulting land effciency, and consequently the land sparing potential. The core of the model consists of a techno-economic optimization model that minimizes cost for a system that includes variable renewable electricity generation (wind and solar power), storage (electricity, CO₂ and H₂), electrolyzers and methanol synthesis installations for each one of the sugarcane ethanol production plants in the country. The optimization model relies crucially on two time-series which we derived specifically for each Brazilian ethanol plant based on a consolidated spatially explicit data set of sugarcane ethanol installations: first, individual time series of the CO₂-streams from ethanol fermentation, and second multi-year time series of wind and solar power in hourly temporal resolution using ERA5 and ERA5-land reanalysis data. Furthermore, we extensively review costs of individual system components and derive footprints of Brazilian solar and wind power plants from satellite imagery.

The proposed pathway leads to a combined amount of ethanol and methanol that represents an increase of  43%-49% compared to the current output of the ethanol industry in energetic terms. This amounts to around 100 TWh of methanol that would be sufficient to cover the projected growth in Brazil biofuel demand until 2030. In contrast, if the same amount of energy would be provided by sugarcane ethanol, produced at the current average Brazilian sugarcane-to-ethanol land-use efficiency, an additional 23,000 km² - 27,000 km² of land would be required. This underlines the significant land sparing potential of the proposed pathway. 

How to cite: Ramirez Camargo, L., Castro, G., Gruber, K., Klingler, M., Turkovska, O., Wetterlund, E., and Schmidt, J.: Significant land-sparing potentials from implementing carbon capture and utilization for the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol industry, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10036, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10036, 2022.

We determined the bee species presence, abundance, and diversity at utility-scale ground-mounted solar development (USS) to assess the impact on desert pollinators and the services they provide to the plants in the communities in which they live, specifically, in the Mojave and Colorado Desert regions.  We used a matched transect control design to test whether pollinator populations have changed due to solar utility scale installations. Sixty to 90% of flowering plants require animal pollinators. The Mojave Desert represents a hotspot of bee biodiversity corresponding to its rich botanical diversity of 1512 species. Our study found 113 species in a severe drought year after five drought years (2011-2015). 42% were oligoleges, 10% were polylectic and 29% of the  lacked data on their floral diets. Included were 5 undescribed species in the families Apidae (Tetraloniella, Anthophora -Anthophoroides, Anthophorula,) and Halictidae (Lasioglossum [Dialictus]). In our transect study we found lower abundance, diversity and richness inside the solar installations. However, we did not find a significant effect of distance from solar installation at 2K for our one year study. The BVT traps represented 16% of the collected specimens and 58 species and cup traps represented 83% of traps, and captured 46.7% of the total specimens and 66 species.Of the total bees species captured and identified, 76% are ground-nesting species.

How to cite: Saul-Gershenz, L., Zavortink, T., Van Wyk, J., Ascher, J. S., and Kimsey, L.: Impact on native bees from utility-scale solar development in the Mojave and western Sonoran Deserts, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1881, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1881, 2022.

There is currently a total of 750 large scale solar parks (>5MW) in the UK, with an installed capacity of approximately 7.3GW; this is likely to cover an area of land of around 14,500 ha. While the planning process for such developments is currently geared towards increasing biodiversity gain, there remains a large discrepancy between the way that solar farms are managed and the actual ecological enhancement achieved. With large scale solar parks being a critical part of meeting the targets within the Paris Agreement, it becomes increasingly important to understand how the construction of solar parks impacts local wildlife, where biodiversity net gain can be achieved and the obstacles in the way of maximising this biodiversity net gain.

This talk offers a perspective from a practitioner’s point of view; Clarkson & Woods have carried out ecological monitoring of over 100 operational solar farms since 2016, and have collated an extensive database of botanical data from operational solar arrays. We will present this botanical data based on over 2,000 recorded botanical quadrats and look at how various factors affect botanical diversity including land management approach, age of array and location of quadrat. A discussion of some of the obstacles and potential solutions to maximising biodiversity net gain will be presented based on our knowledge of solar farms in the UK.

How to cite: Montag, H. and Clarkson, T.: Long Term Ecological Monitoring of Large Scale Solar Parks in the UK, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4958, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4958, 2022.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is defined in the UK as ‘development that leaves biodiversity in a better state than before’ and involves an approach where land developers work with local governments, wildlife groups, landowners and other stakeholders in order to support local priorities for nature conservation. The Environment Act 2021 will set out a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain to be mandatory for most land developments and the gain will need to be calculated using the Natural England Biodiversity Metric. The terrestrial habitats listed within the Biodiversity Metric are based on the UK Habitat Classification system (UK Hab).

Solar park developments usually achieve high gains in biodiversity as they commonly lead to intensive arable land or improved grassland being restored to permanent grassland; further enhancements may include sowing of wildflower seed and application of conservation grazing/cutting. However, debate remains regarding classification of proposed habitat within solar parks, in particular, the shaded habitat beneath the panels. We argue that rather than this area being regarded as “lost” habitat, our data show that a variety of plant species can thrive. However, this varies from site to site and is dependent on the vegetation management regime implemented within the site. Site management varies from conservation grazed to intensively grazed, to completely unmanaged, to cut throughout every month to once every three years or with occasional shade / access strips. This extends to treatment of injurious weeds with some non-chemical treatments to other sites which are blanket sprayed with a glyphosate herbicide.

A data set of 30 operational solar parks which were monitored in 2020 were selected and a total of 523 botanical quadrats analysed in order to characterise the vegetation within solar parks (including beneath the panels) in terms of species composition and other UK Habitat Classification criteria such as habitat condition.

These results will be used to provide formal guidance for calculating BNG on solar farms for the solar industry and planning authorities. The proposed approach is being developed with input from Natural England, UK Hab and Solar Energy UK.

How to cite: Remazeilles, A., Montag, H., Carvalho, F., Parker, G., and Howell, B.: Applying Biodiversity Net Gain to solar parks in the UK, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7770, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7770, 2022.

The increasing demand of emission-free energy enhances the footprint of wind power on landscapes worldwide. Wind power establishments claim considerable areas given their establishment sites and connected infrastructure. Being a major (but late arriving) land-use actor, onshore wind power expands in a landscape context already shaped by other land uses, thereby becoming directly a competitor for area. Being at forefront within the European Union, Sweden in northern Europe has ratified ambitious environmental goals to meet net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045. This asks for substantial expansion in renewable energy sources nationwide, particularly of wind power. In practice, suggested future wind power establishments claim about 3.5% of the total national land surface in Sweden but higher shares in forest-dominated regions. Within the Swedish environmental strategy, forests, however, are key players to provide also other products and services to mitigate impacts of climate change as well as to preserve biodiversity. Notably, a land demand of about 3.5% by wind power is comparable to the share of all formally protected Swedish forestlands below the mountain forest border, which currently is heavily debated due to the experienced loss of forestland for wood biomass production. This makes wind power establishment in forest landscape a serious competitor for space and for meeting different forest goals.

Using Sweden as a case, we quantify the amount of forests in relation to their productivity, landownership (state, company or private) and nature conservation value that we expect to convert into wind power land following the recent national strategy for wind power expansion based on current wind power distribution in Sweden. Our preliminary results suggest a considerable conversion of productive forestland into wind power land, particularly in the southern boreal landscape. Preliminary findings also indicate landowner differ to which degree their productive forestland without conservational value likely become wind power land.  

Our results emphasized the need for regional context-specific landscape planning in order to allow for both forests development and utilization meeting different environmental goals, including wind power and other interests.

How to cite: Neumann, W., Bjärstig, T., Thellbro, C., and Svensson, J.: Footprint of large scale expansion of wind power in productive boreal forests – forests under a zero-emission strategy, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8685, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8685, 2022.