How can waterbids coexist with floating solar projects?

Solar energy systems that float on top of artificial waterbodies could interfere with waterbirds. Floating photovoltaics—or “floatovoltaics”—are becoming more popular throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world since they can help provide clean energy without taking up large spaces of natural lands. But they could affect waterbirds that already face threats from habitat loss, climate change, pollution, disease and more. “That’s why it’s so important to understand how waterbirds are going to respond to floating solar and if there is the possibility for conservation concessions at new floating solar facilities,” said Elliott Steele, a postdoctoral scholar with the University of California Davis Wild Energy Center within the Energy and Efficiency Institute. Steele is the corresponding author on a paper observing ways floating solar energy can affect waterbirds. In their observations, the team discovered black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) resting on the structures before dawn, double-breasted cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) fighting for a favorable site, black phoebes (Sayornis nigricans) nesting under panels and more. For future solar projects, the team recommends considering how waterbirds interact with the infrastructure, how bird conservation strategies vary by site, region and season, how to best monitor waterbirds at floating solar sites, and more. “There are some things we wished we’d known before other kinds of renewable energy were developed,” said coauthor Emma Forester, a PhD candidate with the UC Davis Land, Air and Water Resources department and the Wild Energy Center. “While we’re at this critical threshold of renewable energy development, we want to put more thought into the design that can benefit birds and other wildlife as we go forward.”

Read the paper in Nature Water.