#synergySolar makes a lot of sense at ground level, too – pv magazine Internationalhttps://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/06/14/solar-makes-a-lot-of-sense-at-ground-level-too/Solar projects that support native grasses can sequester more carbon than farmland alone.
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From an emissions-capturing standpoint, these native grassland habitats are important because they sequester almost 60% more carbon per acre than modern agricultural activities.
The study modeled and averaged solar facilities in seven states in the Upper Midwest. Their modeling suggests that native grasses planted as part of 10 GW of solar generation capacity would sequester 129.3 tons of carbon per hectare; that is 65% and 35% greater than either an agriculture or a solar-turfgrass scenario, respectively.
The researchers said that this volume of emission sequestration is equivalent to the emission savings of 5,000 GWh of fossil generation shifting to solar power, which would correspond to greater than 3 GW of solar capacity.
The paper found that in addition to carbon sequestration, native grassland habitats also produce a three-fold increase in habitat for local pollinators, like bees and butterflies, when compared to pure agricultural usage. The threat of erosion from poor management still looms for midwestern soil. Solar and native grasslands would protect this fertile asset from losses of up to 9,000 tons of sediment erosion annually, and would retain more than 40,000,000 cubic meters of water from runoff annually.
Prior observational research has shown that solar panels create microclimates in semi-arid regions by significantly increasing the water retention in soil, which in turn increases sheep and cow grazing grasses by 90%.