Biodiversity Potential in Solar Parks on Rewetted Peatlands

To meet climate targets, drained peatlands will need to be rewetted, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural landscapes. However, possibilities for continued productive use of these landscapes are also necessary. A novel concept that has emerged in recent years is peatland photovoltaics (PV) in combination with peatland rewetting. Until now, there is almost no practical experience with peatland PV on rewetted peat soils; our project explores the biodiversity of a ‘wet’ peatland PV site.

For a comprehensive understanding of the biological implications of rewetting and solar power generation, a multi-taxon study is being conducted on vegetation, spiders, carabid beetles, birds, amphibians and bats. Paired with traditional field survey techniques, methods from the rapidly evolving field of bioacoustics including passive acoustic monitoring and machine learning are being used to gather data from the entire growing season. This presentation will provide initial results on plant and bird biodiversity at a 30-hectare rewetted peatland PV site in Northern Germany. A space-for-time approach was used to assess biodiversity in a drained, intensively used peatland site compared to the rewetted solar park. Initial results indicate that while species diversity is not significantly different, the plant community is. The plant community within the rewetted solar park has more species adapted to wet conditions, while the species within the drained peatland site are largely typical agricultural species.

Given the need to rewet peatlands and the rapid growth of the solar power industry, it is necessary to understand the biological implications of such a land use, as well as any possibilities for synergies between climate protection and renewable energy production.