Solar panel, vegetation management and legacy effects on vegetation in Western European solar parks
Abstract
The rapid development of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic electricity production, impacts natural and semi-natural habitats such as grasslands. The construction of solar parks involves earthworks usually destroying a part of the above-ground vegetation, related organisms and ecosystem services. However, subsequent management by grazing or cutting may also contribute to the création or restoration of semi-natural grasslands. We analysed the effects of solar panels, vegetation management and previous land use (legacy effect) on plant community characteristics such as cover, species richness, light indicator values and species composition in European solar parks. We used different data sets obtained from 2016 to 2025 in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, including 161 solar parks and 2429 survey plots. Our results showed that solar panels significantly reduced plant cover and species richness compared to inter-rows or plots outside the panels array. We also found significantly lower light indicator values under panels, reflecting a shift towards shade-tolerant vegetation. Surprisingly, vegetation management did not have a significant main effect on plant communities, but showed a significant interaction with plot location (under panels, inter-row or outside the panels array). Grazing and/or cutting changed the plant community composition only under panels but not between panel rows (inter-row) or outside panel arrays. Finally, a legacy effect of pre-construction habitats was detected. Species richness was lowest in former woodlands and highest in former industrial fields. Our study highlights the specific need for restoration measures to favour the colonisation by shade-tolerant species under panels and to introduce grassland species in solar parks on former woodlands, particularly in woodland dominated landscapes.
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BibTeX
@article{etienne2026solar,
title = {{Solar panel, vegetation management and legacy effects on vegetation in Western European solar parks}},
author = {Lucas Etienne and Louison Bienvenu and Hollie Blaydes and Fabio Carvalho and Sandra Dullau and Aure Durbecq and Raphaël Gros and Francis Isselin-Nondedeu and Quentin Lambert and Arnaud Lec'Hvien and Rachel Mccrea and Hannah Montag and Bertrand Schatz and Franziska Schrodt and Lucy Treasure and Noelline Tsafack and Piran White and Felix Zitzmann and Alona Armstrong and Armin Bischoff},
journal = {Environmental Research Communications},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1088/2515-7620/ae99b2},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05734795v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Solar panel, vegetation management and legacy effects on vegetation in Western European solar parks
AU - Lucas Etienne
AU - Louison Bienvenu
AU - Hollie Blaydes
AU - Fabio Carvalho
AU - Sandra Dullau
AU - Aure Durbecq
AU - Raphaël Gros
AU - Francis Isselin-Nondedeu
AU - Quentin Lambert
AU - Arnaud Lec'Hvien
AU - Rachel Mccrea
AU - Hannah Montag
AU - Bertrand Schatz
AU - Franziska Schrodt
AU - Lucy Treasure
AU - Noelline Tsafack
AU - Piran White
AU - Felix Zitzmann
AU - Alona Armstrong
AU - Armin Bischoff
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/26
JO - Environmental Research Communications
DO - 10.1088/2515-7620/ae99b2
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05734795v1
AB - The rapid development of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic electricity production, impacts natural and semi-natural habitats such as grasslands. The construction of solar parks involves earthworks usually destroying a part of the above-ground vegetation, related organisms and ecosystem services. However, subsequent management by grazing or cutting may also contribute to the création or restoration of semi-natural grasslands. We analysed the effects of solar panels, vegetation management and previous land use (legacy effect) on plant community characteristics such as cover, species richness, light indicator values and species composition in European solar parks. We used different data sets obtained from 2016 to 2025 in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, including 161 solar parks and 2429 survey plots. Our results showed that solar panels significantly reduced plant cover and species richness compared to inter-rows or plots outside the panels array. We also found significantly lower light indicator values under panels, reflecting a shift towards shade-tolerant vegetation. Surprisingly, vegetation management did not have a significant main effect on plant communities, but showed a significant interaction with plot location (under panels, inter-row or outside the panels array). Grazing and/or cutting changed the plant community composition only under panels but not between panel rows (inter-row) or outside panel arrays. Finally, a legacy effect of pre-construction habitats was detected. Species richness was lowest in former woodlands and highest in former industrial fields. Our study highlights the specific need for restoration measures to favour the colonisation by shade-tolerant species under panels and to introduce grassland species in solar parks on former woodlands, particularly in woodland dominated landscapes.
SN - 2515-7620
ER -