Photovoltaic solar farms in California: can we have renewable electricity and our species, too?

Abstract

Photovoltaic solar power generating facilities are proliferating rapidly in California and elsewhere. While this trend is welcomed for many reasons (e.g., reducing greenhouse gas emissions), these facilities also can have profound environmental impacts, particularly to local species populations. These impacts become more significant when species of conservation concern are affected. In the San Joaquin Desert region in central California, a number of conservation measures have been routinely implemented on solar facilities, and these measures have facilitated continued use of the facilities by a number of species of conservation concern. Some of the more significant measures include permeable security fences, vegetation management, movement corridors, avoiding critical features such as dens and burrows, and vehicle speed limits. Detailed studies have been conducted on San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica) using solar facilities in the San Joaquin Desert. Demographic and ecological attributes of foxes are similar between foxes using the facilities and foxes on nearby reference sites, and values for foxes on solar sites are within the ranges of values for foxes reported from sites within core population areas. Facilitated by the conservation measures, kit foxes are using at least six facilities in the San Joaquin Desert as are a variety of other species of conservation concern. This successful model also potentially could be adapted to other ecosystems and applied to facilities in regions outside of the San Joaquin Desert, such as the Mojave Desert. Determining whether species in other regions can use photovoltaic solar facilities and identifying the most efficacious conservation measures will require time and testing, and these efforts would benefit from collaborative efforts among landowners, solar developers, natural resources agencies, researchers, and others. The San Joaquin Desert facilities and a recent demonstration facility in the Mojave Desert provide strong evidence that solar facilities can be constructed and operated in a manner that also accommodates continued use of the facilities by some species of conservation concern.