Future solar farms: technologies, impacts, spatial planning options

The aim of the project is to evaluate current technical and planning developments in ground-mounted photovoltaics in connection with Federal expansion targets and to develop options and possible courses of action for nature conservation. A distinction is made between options in connection with future amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and those that affect regional planning, building and licensing laws, but possibly also other areas of law, and which are aimed in particular at the unsubsidised developments of large solar parks outside the EEG legal framework.

Among other things, it is planned:

• Evaluation of possible regulatory changes to PV in subsidy law (EEG 2023) and in planning and approval law (e.g. B-Plan obligation, privileging, agri-PV, intervention regulation)
• Estimation of developments regarding PV-farms that will fall out of EEG subsidies from approx. 2022, as well as the development of proposals for their continued operation, if necessary also in connection with repowering
• Evaluation of the tenders for innovative solar installations according to § 15 InnAusVO
• Development of an evaluation aid for the intensity of intervention of PV-farms, e.g. on grassland, arable land, conversion areas and their design after construction)
• Analysis of risks and synergies in the construction of floating PV systems, literature research on possible impacts of floating PV and the development of criteria for the nature- and water-compatible construction of floating PV systems

Method

Within the framework of the project, existing spatial analyses and expansion scenarios as well as approval notices for floating PV-systems are evaluated. The aim is to analyse as concretely as possible potential developments in the coming years and their possible consequences for nature conservation and landscape management.

Results

The project analysed current developments in the field of photovoltaic use. This includes an evaluation matrix for the ecological assessment of ground-mounted PV systems of different system types on different land uses, an analysis of the potential for floating PV systems, legal recommendations on how nature conservation criteria could be integrated as part of a privileged status, and an analysis of how PV system operators plan to continue using the systems after the end of the funding period. In view of the large number of system types and the current speed of system construction, the ecological assessment of solar systems is of particular importance.

The facts and interrelationships relevant to the application of nature conservation impact regulation are presented in this study. The agricultural utilisation types of arable land and grassland, which are increasingly affected as locations, are also discussed in relation to their respective cultivation intensity. An installation on an arable site with average cultivation and low biotope value can be largely compensated for by suitable measures in the area of the respective plan area, often simply by establishing a permanent and at least partially species-rich grassland stand. In individual cases, however, additional species conservation concerns may need to be taken into account. A significant improvement, on the other hand, requires more extensive biotope development measures in the sense of a site-specific target and measure concept, which also includes maintenance management and monitoring to provide evidence. In view of the large number of suitable and far less nature conservation-relevant alternative sites, existing and in particular species-rich grassland biotopes should not be used as sites for ground-mounted solar parks.