ECLIPSE · Ecological impacts of floating photovoltaics in lake ecosystems

Ecological impacts of floating photovoltaics in lake ecosystems

Climate change, driven by increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is critically impacting biodiversity and ecosystems across the globe. The growing energy demand, coupled with the urgent need to mitigate climate change, is accelerating the renewable energy industry. A key challenge is to ensure that climate mitigation strategies do not trigger counterproductive impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. A recent advancement in the photovoltaics sector, known as floating photovoltaics (FPV), involves arrays of photovoltaic panels attached to a floating plastic structure and secured on the water body using a mooring system. FPV deployments are accelerating globally due to their increased efficiency (owing to lower operational temperatures) and land-saving benefits. Yet, FPVs might also have negative impacts on freshwater ecosystems that could counterbalance their ecological benefits, and a major issue associated with their deployment is the absence of empirical studies assessing their ecological consequences. FPVs are likely to affect a wide range of ecological parameters in lakes, acting across levels of biological organization and making it challenging to predict the overall outcomes of these interacting effects. They strongly limit the arrival of light and photosynthetically active radiation, directly affecting phytoplanktonic primary production and modifying the thermal functioning and oxygenation of the water column. FPVs can also affect water mixing and gas exchange by altering the influence of winds and currents on the water’s surface. These abiotic modifications are likely to change the composition of plant and animal communities, with cascading effects on biotic interactions, food web architecture, ecosystem metabolism, and ultimately, whole-ecosystem greenhouse gas balances. We predict that FPV ecological effects will be context-dependent, varying across environmental conditions (e.g., lake trophic status) and industrial factors (e.g., FPV design). The general objective of ECLIPSE is to provide a robust, innovative, and integrative assessment of the ecological effects of FPV on lakes. The specific objectives (SO) are: (SO1) Measure the in-situ ecological impacts of FPV installation on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; (SO2) Experimentally quantify the context-dependency of these effects (SO3) Parametrize a model to predict the impacts of FPV on lakes under climate change scenarios and (SO4) Provide evidence-based guidelines for FPV deployment.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union