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ScienceQuiet 12d · day 12

Minnesota solar farms show 20-fold rise in native bees under panels

A five-year study at two Enel solar sites in southern Minnesota finds pollinator habitat under panels boosted bees and nearby soybean visits.

newest coverage 11d agosummary written 11d ago3 pieces3.7k likes & upvotes42 comments MastodonBluesky

What to know

  • Five-year study at two Enel-operated Minnesota solar farms found native bee abundance rose more than 20-fold and total insects tripled after native grasses and wildflowers were planted beneath panels.
  • Bees from the restored habitat were also found visiting nearby soybean flowers at rates comparable to federally protected Conservation Reserve Program grasslands.
  • Researchers note the study measured bee visitation, not soybean yield, so it cannot be treated as direct evidence that neighboring farmers harvested more beans.
  • Findings suggest habitat management under solar arrays could offer a secondary pollinator benefit to surrounding farmland.

Enel Green Power North America Operator of the Atwater and Eastwood solar farmsStudy researchers Authors of the five-year insect survey

Minnesota solar farms show 20-fold rise in native bees under panels
ecoticias.com

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage posts

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  1. 1

    Study findings on solar-site pollinator habitat circulate widely

    Coverage of the five-year study reports native bee abundance rose more than 20-fold and total insect counts tripled at the two solar sites, with bee visitation near the solar habitat comparable to levels alongside federal Conservation Reserve Program grasslands.

    “This indicates that solar sites may benefit nearby farms if the area below the panels is managed as wildlife habitat. The panels themselves were nothing new. The real difference came from the plants that were growing below.”
    — Ecoticias.com
    • hsack121.bsky.social

      Two Minnesota solar farms turned the ground beneath their panels into habitat, and native bee abundance rose more than 20-fold

      hsack121.bsky.socialBluesky11d ago3.6k▲view on Bluesky ↗
    1 more of the top 2 · 3 posts in this stretch
    • tempputerava.eurosky.social

      "This indicates that solar sites may benefit nearby farms if the area below the panels is managed as wildlife habitat. The panels themselves were nothing new. The real difference came from the plants that were growing below." #Aurinkovoimalat #Maatalous #Pölyttäjät #Ennallistaminen #Mehiläiset

      tempputerava.eurosky.socialBluesky11d ago21▲view on Bluesky ↗
    all of them →
  2. background

    Team begins tracking bee visits to nearby soybean fields — Starting in 2019, researchers monitored soybean fields near the solar facilities during the July bloom, finding bee visits to soybean flowers near the solar habitat were about twice as high as roadside locations and 2.5 times higher than field interiors.

  3. background

    Crews plant native grasses and wildflowers beneath the panels — After construction, workers seeded both sites with native grasses and wildflowers, testing additional seed mixtures in selected plots in 2018 so that plants flowered from spring through late summer.

  4. background

    Enel builds Atwater and Eastwood solar farms on former cropland — The two Enel Green Power North America sites, covering about 77 acres in southern Minnesota, were constructed on fields that had grown row crops for decades. Atwater produces 4 megawatts and Eastwood 5.5 megawatts.

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