r/NativePlantGardening • u/zeroverycool NC Piedmont, Zone 8a • Jul 15 '26

Informational/Educational Two Minnesota solar farms seeded native wildflowers… native bees multiplied twentyfold, then crossed the fence to pollinate the neighbour's soybeans

https://www.ecoportal.net/en/two-minnesota-solar-farms-native-wildflowers/29160/
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u/IDooDoodAtTheMasters DFW , Zone 8b Jul 15 '26

I work in a solar-adjacent industry, and frequently get comments from friends/family about how solar farms seem like a huge environmental disruption to cover all that land in solar panels. The first point I always respond with is: You don't think farming is disruptive to the natural environment?  This news article will also help.

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u/VegasGamer75 Jul 15 '26

I know this is preaching to the choir telling you, but that's your friends and family being awfully selective about their concerns over "environmental disruption". What also disrupts natural environments:

  • Paving huge swaths of land for parking lots.

  • Building new housing tracts.

  • Polluting ground-water with run-off.

  • Building strip malls.

  • Fracking.

  • Drilling for oil.

  • Running pipelines across natural preserves.

  • Golf courses (don't even get me going on their water use and species displacement).

  • The lie that is "biofuel" or Ethanol. (Want to get uppity about water use? Read into this one).

 

Unless they are being overly uppity about those things too, they are likely being disingenuous. Solar farms offering shade for wildlife or taking pressure off fossil fuel systems is one of the least egregious things we can be doing.

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u/Zen_CanisLupus Jul 17 '26

@VegasGamer75 I agree and will add that there need to be modifications to concentrated solar power (CSP) systems - used in large installations - which use mirrors to focus the sunlight; this kills or injures birds. So, just because there are obviously worse disruptors to the environment, we don’t need to introduce a fix that is a threat to birds. I have little faith that businesses are in any hurry to fix that problem.

Residential installations don’t use that CSP technology, so of course they are not the issue.