Modeling the ecosystem services of native vegetation management practices at solar energy facilities in the Midwestern United States 

Abstract/Summary:

The increasing pressure on land resources for food and energy production along with efforts to maintain natural
systems necessitates the development of compatible land uses that maximize the co-benefits of multiple
ecosystem services. One such land sharing opportunity is the restoration and management of native grassland
vegetation beneath ground-mounted solar energy facilities, which can both protect biodiversity and restore
related ecosystem services. In this paper, we applied the InVEST modeling framework to investigate the potential
response of four ecosystem services (carbon storage, pollinator supply, sediment retention, and water retention)
to native grassland habitat restoration at 30 solar facilities across the Midwest United States. Compared to presolar
agricultural land uses, solar-native grassland habitat produced a 3-fold increase in pollinator supply and a
65% increase in carbon storage potential. We also observed increases in sediment and water retention of over
95% and 19%, respectively. We applied these results to project the potential benefits of adoption of native
grassland management practices in current and future solar energy buildout scenarios. Our study demonstrates
how multifunctional land uses in agriculture-dominated landscapes may improve the provision of a variety of
ecosystem services and improve the landscape compatibility of renewable energy and food production.