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Good practice Imported

Habitat-Enhanced Solar Parks in Brandenburg — Testing Ecosystem-Service Co-Benefits of Germany's Agrivoltaic Boom

Germany · Cottbus · See the Germany profile

Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 96% 20/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Two 2025 studies of Brandenburg's solar boom reach different conclusions: field surveys found lower arthropod abundance in solar parks than in reference grassland, while separate InVEST modelling projected 33-88% higher pollinator supply under habitat-friendly management.

51
Solar farms studied
5,048 ha
Combined solar-park area
33-88%
Modelled pollinator-supply gain
9-22%
Modelled water-retention gain

Details

Promoter
Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg; independent modelling team (Ludzuweit et al.)
Period
2025 (studies); solar parks built 2010s-2020s
Region (NUTS)
DE40
Keywords
renewable energy, agrivoltaics, biodiversity, land use

Context

Researchers mapped 51 utility-scale solar farms across Brandenburg, Germany (about 5,048 ha, 3,107 MWp), studying ecosystem-service co-benefits of habitat-friendly agrivoltaic management.

Results

Kocsis et al. (2025) field surveys found similar arthropod species richness but lower biomass/abundance in solar parks than reference grassland; separate InVEST modelling (Ludzuweit et al. 2025) projected 33-88% higher pollinator supply and 9-22% higher water retention under habitat-enhancing management, but these are modelled, not field-measured, outcomes.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg research team, solar-farm operators (for any future habitat-management retrofit)

Conditions for success

  • adoption of native seed mixes, reduced mowing and wider panel spacing by solar-farm operators
  • independent field monitoring to confirm modelled ecosystem-service gains

Common failure modes

  • modelled gains have not yet been field-verified; current field data show lower arthropod biomass in solar parks than reference habitat

Commonly funded by

LIFE Programme National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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