The Ecological Miracle Under Solar Panels

Introduction: When Solar Energy Meets the Grassland

In the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia, patches of solar panels shimmer under the sun. Surprisingly, beneath the panels lies not barren land, but lush pasture and flocks of sheep grazing leisurely. This “photovoltaic + pasture” model not only generates clean energy but also improves soil conditions, increases forage yield, and even significantly enhances the survival rate of sheep. 

The combination of photovoltaics and animal husbandry, known as “pasture-light complementarity,” is an innovative land use method. Traditional photovoltaic power stations often occupy large areas of land, potentially triggering ecological disputes, while the “photovoltaic + pasture” model achieves composite land use, allowing the same land to both generate electricity and support grazing, even improving the ecological environment. 

How does the pasture under solar panels actually operate? Can it truly achieve a “win-win” outcome? This article will deeply analyze this “photovoltaic ecological miracle” from multiple perspectives, including scientific principles and ecological benefits. 

I.Why Can Solar Panels Improve Grasslands? 

1. The “Sunshade Effect” of Solar Panels: Reducing Water Evaporation and Promoting Forage Growth

In arid and semi-arid regions of northwestern China, annual precipitation is generally below 400 millimeters, while potential evaporation reaches 2,000–3,000 millimeters. Intense sunlight causes soil moisture to run off at an alarming rate, leading to increasingly severe grassland degradation and land desertification. The large-scale installation of solar panels is like setting up “ecological umbrellas” for the earth, significantly altering the surface microenvironment through physical shading. 

The presence of solar panels can effectively reduce surface temperature. Long-term monitoring by the Northwest Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the Tala Beach Photovoltaic Park in Qinghai shows that the average daily soil temperature under the panels is 2–5℃ lower than that of bare land. This temperature reduction greatly slows the rate of water evaporation. Data shows that during high-temperature periods in summer, soil water content in areas covered by solar panels increases by 15%–20% compared to control areas. Meanwhile, the unique spatial layout of the photovoltaic array forms a special air flow channel, weakening the erosive effect of wind speed on the surface and increasing air humidity by an average of 8%–12%, creating a more suitable microclimate for forage growth. 

This ecological improvement has been fully verified in practice: In the photovoltaic pasture of Ulanqab in Inner Mongolia, the average height of perennial forage increased from 15 centimeters in ordinary grasslands to 22 centimeters, and vegetation coverage increased by 30%. The photovoltaic park in Gonghe County, Qinghai, has even witnessed the transformation of desert areas into oases, with the annual growth rate of vegetation biomass reaching 25%, effectively curbing the process of land desertification.  

2. The “Height Design” of Photovoltaic Supports: Leaving Space for Sheep Activities

Traditional photovoltaic power stations typically use low supports of 1.2–1.5 meters, while pasture-light complementarity projects break conventions by increasing the support height to 2.5 meters or even higher. This design innovation not only balances power generation needs but also constructs a three-dimensional ecosystem where humans, livestock, and electricity coexist. 

A support height of more than 2.5 meters creates a safe activity corridor for sheep. Adult sheep can freely shuttle between photovoltaic arrays, avoiding component damage caused by collisions and ensuring the integrity of the sheep’s activity range. At the same time, this height also reserves sufficient space for modern agricultural machinery. Large machinery such as mowers and balers can smoothly enter the pasture for mechanized operations, greatly improving forage harvesting efficiency.Furthermore, the reasonable support height ensures that lower-layer forage receives sufficient sunlight, avoiding uneven vegetation growth caused by shading and maintaining the balance and stability of the grassland ecosystem. 

3. The “Natural Weeding” Role of Sheep: Reducing Operation and Maintenance Costs

Weed growth has always been a challenge in the operation and maintenance of traditional photovoltaic power stations. Excessive weeds not only block photovoltaic components, leading to a 5%–15% decrease in power generation efficiency but also require significant manual labor for regular cleaning. The photovoltaic pasture, however, introduces sheep to build a naturally circulating ecosystem. 

The grazing behavior of sheep is like a natural “green weeder.” According to practice data from the Hami Photovoltaic Pasture in Xinjiang, grazing 20–30 sheep per hectare can control weed coverage below 10%, saving approximately 8,000 yuan in annual manual weeding costs. More importantly, sheep manure, as high-quality natural fertilizer, is rich in nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Each sheep excretes 300–400 kilograms annually, effectively improving soil structure and fertility, forming a benign cycle of “sheep eat grass—manure fertilizes the field—grass promotes electricity.” In addition, sheep grazing on dry weeds significantly reduces fire hazards. Statistics show that the fire incidence rate of photovoltaic pastures is only 1/5 that of traditional photovoltaic power stations, greatly enhancing the operational safety of the power stations. 

II.The Ecological and Economic Win-Win of Photovoltaic Pastures 

Against the backdrop of global energy transition and coordinated ecological protection, the photovoltaic pasture, with its unique “pasture-light complementarity” model, has broken the oppositional dilemma between traditional energy development and ecological protection, successfully achieving a two-way improvement in ecological and economic benefits and constructing a sustainable development paradigm of multi-party win-win. 

1. Ecological Benefits: From “Land Consumption” to “Ecological Restoration”

Traditional photovoltaic power stations often use land solely for power generation, suffering from problems such as low land resource utilization efficiency and significant ecological disturbance. In stark contrast, photovoltaic pastures achieve diversified reconstruction of land functions through innovative space utilization and ecological restoration mechanisms. Take the photovoltaic pasture in Wuwei, Gansu, as an example: after three years of project implementation, the soil organic matter content in the region increased from 0.8% to 1.2%, vegetation coverage increased from 25% to 55%, and species such as the corsac fox and common kestrel, which had disappeared for many years, reappeared, with the ecosystem significantly restored. 

2. Economic Benefits: Tripartite Benefits for Herdsmen, Enterprises, and Governments

The photovoltaic pasture organically combines energy development, ecological protection, and people’s livelihood improvement through an innovative benefit distribution mechanism, forming a multi-party win-win economic cycle. 

For Herdsmen: 

Land rent income: Herdsmen lease idle grasslands to photovoltaic enterprises, with rent income ranging from 1,000 yuan/mu/year in Inner Mongolia to 3,000 yuan/mu/year in parts of Qinghai, becoming a stable source of property income. 

Additional income from sheep grazing:Some photovoltaic enterprises pay “ecological maintenance fees” based on the number of sheep to encourage herdsmen to participate in ecological maintenance, with an annual subsidy of approximately 150–200 yuan per sheep. Combined with wool and mutton sales, farmers can increase their annual income by 30,000–50,000 yuan. 

Employment opportunities: The pasture sets up positions such as solar panel cleaning, herd management, and equipment inspection, giving priority to local herdsmen for employment, with an average monthly salary of 3,500–5,000 yuan, effectively broadening income channels. 

For Photovoltaic Enterprises: 

Reduced land costs: Pasture land rent is only 1/3 to 1/5 of industrial land. For a 100,000-mu photovoltaic project, land costs can be saved by hundreds of millions of yuan. 

Reduced operation and maintenance costs: Natural weeding by sheep reduces manual weeding costs by 80%, and sheep manure returning to the field reduces fertilizer input, with comprehensive operation and maintenance costs decreasing by more than 40%. 

Improved ESG rating: The eco-friendly model helps enterprises obtain higher environmental, social, and governance scores, attracting investment from green financial institutions and reducing financing costs by 1.5%–2%. 

For Governments:

Promoting rural revitalization: The project drives employment and increases herdsmen’s income, significantly improving living standards in rural areas. In a county in Gansu, the poverty incidence rate in the area covered by the photovoltaic pasture dropped from 18% to 2%. 

Promoting green development: Each million kilowatts of photovoltaic pasture generates annual power equivalent to reducing standard coal consumption by 300,000 tons, helping local areas exceed their “double carbon” goals and enhancing regional sustainable development competitiveness. 

III.Challenges and Future of Photovoltaic Pastures 

Against the backdrop of global energy transition and coordinated ecological protection, the photovoltaic pasture, as an innovative model of “agriculture-light complementarity,” is attracting widespread attention. However, for this model to achieve large-scale promotion, it still needs to overcome many obstacles while holding huge development potential. 

1. Current Challenges

(1) High Initial Investment 

The high-support design adopted by photovoltaic pastures is intended to provide sufficient activity space for livestock, but its construction cost is significantly higher than that of ordinary photovoltaic power stations. According to industry research data, the cost per watt of a high-support photovoltaic system is generally 10%–15% higher than that of a conventional power station. Take a 10-megawatt photovoltaic pasture project as an example: the investment cost of a conventional photovoltaic power station is approximately 40–50 million yuan, while that of a photovoltaic pasture is as high as 44–57.5 million yuan. This additional capital investment undoubtedly imposes huge financial pressure on many small and medium-sized investors and enterprises, making early-stage project financing more difficult. 

(2) Difficulty in Grazing Management 

In photovoltaic pastures, the activities of livestock such as sheep and the safe operation of photovoltaic equipment have potential conflicts. In actual operation, sheep may cause circuit short circuits by gnawing on cables or damage solar panels by hitting supports. A photovoltaic pasture in Inner Mongolia once suffered a power outage in the entire area due to sheep gnawing on cables, with maintenance costs reaching hundreds of thousands of yuan, while also causing losses from power supply interruptions. In addition, livestock of different breeds and growth stages have different activity habits. How to scientifically plan grazing areas and times to ensure that livestock activities do not affect the normal operation of photovoltaic equipment is a problem facing pasture managers. 

(3) Inadequate Policy Support 

As an emerging industry model, “agriculture-light complementarity” has not yet formed a complete and clear land policy in some regions. Some local governments have vague definitions of the land use nature of photovoltaic pastures, leading to many uncertainties in the land approval process for projects. For example, in some regions, photovoltaic pasture land is simply classified as construction land, requiring enterprises to go through complicated land conversion procedures, which greatly increases the time and economic costs of project implementation. At the same time, the lack of targeted subsidy policies and tax incentives makes photovoltaic pasture projects difficult to obtain sufficient policy support when competing with traditional energy projects and agricultural projects. 

2. Future Development Trends

 (1) Intelligent Grazing Systems 

With the development of IoT and artificial intelligence technologies, intelligent grazing systems will become an important means of photovoltaic pasture management. By equipping livestock with GPS collars, managers can monitor the location, activity tracks, and health status of livestock in real time. Once livestock are found to be approaching sensitive areas of photovoltaic equipment, the system will immediately issue an alarm. UAV patrols will also play an important role. UAVs equipped with high-definition cameras and infrared sensors can quickly inspect large areas of pasture, promptly discovering equipment failures and abnormal livestock conditions. For example, after introducing an intelligent grazing system, a photovoltaic pasture in Xinjiang reduced equipment failure rates by 30% and improved grazing efficiency by 40%. 

(2) High-Value-Added Animal Husbandry 

Planting high-value herbs such as astragalus and bupleurum under solar panels can effectively enhance the comprehensive benefits of photovoltaic pastures. Solar panels provide a suitable shaded environment for herb growth, reducing water evaporation and facilitating herb growth. At the same time, herb planting can also improve soil structure and inhibit weed growth, forming a benign ecological cycle. Taking astragalus planting as an example, the market income per mu of astragalus can reach 5,000–8,000 yuan, much higher than that of ordinary forage. In addition, developing characteristic breeding, such as raising medicinal insects and special poultry, can further tap the value-added potential of photovoltaic pastures. 

(3) Carbon Trading Markets 

Photovoltaic pastures have the dual functions of photovoltaic power generation and ecological protection, and their generated carbon emission reductions have huge market value. Photovoltaic power generation replaces traditional fossil energy power generation, reducing carbon dioxide emissions; vegetation growth and ecological restoration in pastures can also absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide. These carbon emission reductions can enter the carbon trading market for trading after professional accounting and certification. With the continuous improvement and expansion of the global carbon trading market, the income obtained by photovoltaic pastures through carbon trading will gradually become an important source of revenue. It is estimated that a large-scale photovoltaic pasture can obtain millions of yuan in revenue through carbon trading each year, which will significantly enhance the project’s profitability and sustainable development capabilities. 

Conclusion: Let the Sun Not Only Generate Electricity but Also Nourish “Greenery” 

The practice of photovoltaic pastures has proven that the development of renewable energy does not have to come at the expense of the ecosystem. On the contrary, through scientific design, solar panels can not only generate electricity but also become a booster for ecological restoration, turning deserts into oases, increasing herdsmen’s income, and making energy cleaner. 

In the future, with technological progress and policy improvement, the “photovoltaic + agriculture” and “photovoltaic + animal husbandry” models are expected to be promoted in more regions worldwide, truly achieving the sustainable development goal of “one piece of land, double benefits.”