Project: BayWa r.e. 70ha ground-mounted solar park
Location: South-West France
Cost: 850 000 EUR (330 000 EUR for construction and 520 000 EUR for operation)
Dates: Began in 2010, operational since 2017
Objectives: Adhere to the mitigation hierarchy, with a net gain in biodiversity
Measures undertaken undertaken during site/route selection: The developer worked in partnership with the local municipality to identify suitable areas during the site screening process. A forest area was selected for development as the habitat had already been degraded by several storms, reducing adverse impacts on
existing biodiversity.
Other measures: Small holes were made in fences to allow wildlife to pass through the site; frequent rotation of onsite sheep grazing to manage the vegetation such that it preserves vegetation key for the life cycle of a protected butterfly species, the false ringlet (Coenonympha oedippus); restored 173ha of degraded wetlands offsite in partnership with a local environmental organisation.
Results: Increases in target species both onsite and in the surrounding area, including false ringlet (Coenonympha oedippus), Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata), and oblong-leaved sundew (Drosera intermedia).
Challenges:
- Finding compensation areas of the required size that do not conflict with agricultural land or tourist areas;
- Continued financing of key compensatory measures as inflation increases costs;
- Managing the solar plant with ecological principles whilst considering higher fire risks and contradictory requests from local authorities; and
- Bringing together all local stakeholders regularly within the monitoring committee and taking their opinions into account in the management of the site.
Success factors:
- Site-specific solutions, with the design and technological solutions evaluated and adapted as knowledge of the site advanced during environmental studies and monitoring;
- In-house technical expertise and working as a project team, which includes operational engineers and environmental experts, enabling all project constraints to be considered collaboratively;
- Compliance with the mitigation hierarchy;
- Well established cooperation between developers and administrations. The project was presented several times to the administration before and after submitting the building permit, in order to adapt operational choices and strengthen its acceptability; and
- Monitoring with a local environmental organisation and a stakeholder committee to adapt measures.
Images copyright: BayWa r.e.