US DoE awards USD 14m for wildlife studies at solar parks

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded USD 14 million (EUR 14.2m) in funding to projects that will study interactions between wildlife and ecosystems and solar energy infrastructure.

The aim is to help increase adoption of ecosystem-friendly clean energy deployment, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M Granholm explained in an announcement on Monday.

To help address the knowledge gap of how large-scale solar installations affect wildlife, researchers will study the interactions of pronghorn, pollinators, birds and other species with these facilities in 26 states.

Six projects will receive USD 8.8 million to examine wildlife interactions. For instance, New York’s Cornell University has been awarded USD 2 million to quantify insect biodiversity and pollinator communities at solar facilities.

A further three projects will focus on ecosystem services. They will get a total of USD 5.3 million. Among them is an initiative of Argonne National Laboratory to develop a national soil data collection system at solar facilities that enables soil health and soil ecosystem services assessments.

(USD 1 = EUR 1.017)

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