🐢 Animals and plants thrive underneath solar panels

The study focused on chiltepin pepper, jalapeno, and cherry tomato plants that were positioned under a solar panel.

They found that shading by the PV panels provides multiple additive and synergistic benefits, including reduced plant drought stress, greater food production and reduced PV panel heat stress.

“In fact, total chiltepin fruit production was three times greater under the PV panels in an agrivoltaic system, and tomato production was twice as great!” says Greg Barron-Gafford, associate professor in the School of Geography and Development, to Good News Network.

But the shade from solar panels isn't just good for plants, but also animals. Desert tortoises are roaming a community solar farm in Nevada, according to PV Magazine.

Thanks to an opening in the fence, they can get in and hide in the bushes underneath the solar panels.

In California, one solar farm has enabled endangered San Joaquin kit foxes to access the site while keeping out primary predator coyotes.

Thanks to The Optimist Daily for one of the news tips.

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Warp News is run by the nonprofit Warp Institute, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

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