MoorPower – Sustainable and innovative photovoltaic solutions for rewetted peatlands

The combination of photovoltaic (PV) systems and peatland rewetting could be an economically attractive form of utilisation for currently drained peatland areas while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing other ecosystem services. MoorPower is an innovative project combining peatland PV, rewetting and paludiculture (Paludi PV) bringing together the expertise of University of Greifswald/Greifswald Mire Centre with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture and the University of Hohenheim. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR) and runs from 2024 to 2028.

At the core experimental site in Northeast-Germany, MoorPower implements the rewetting of a drained peatlands and their utilisation by ground-mounted PV systems together from the outset. The experimental setup allows the comparison of different PV installation methods and the estimation of their effects on water quality, soil physics and the microbiome. Social acceptance, legal issues and economic aspects are analysed together with climate protection and biodiversity assessments at different scales of investigation. In addition, a larger implementation site in Northwest-Germany provides insights on a larger spatial scale and with supplementary methods. In South-Germany, mesocosm experiments and material tests are conducted. Initial results from all sites are already available. We also invite all interested scientists to join us with their research on our experimental platform. The results of this research are urgently needed to evaluate PV systems on peatland soils, to identify possible negative effects of the systems and to avoid these, e.g., through technical guidelines and authorisation requirements, or to adapt existing systems accordingly.