Solar Farm Allows Natural Beauty
A sea of wild chamomile has been found enveloping the fields of a solar farm in Hampshire. The photographs, taken during a routine site visit by operators Lightsource Renewable Energy, reveal a blanket of the calming white flowers, which appear to have completely taken over the grounds. The phenomenon is known as "˜natural colonisation' and occurs without the intervention of planting or seeding, where the setting is perfect for a particular species to thrive. Chamomiles favour soil disturbance, so it is thought that the churning of the ground during the installation phase, followed by 5 months of tranquillity whilst the farm has been generating, could have provided ideal chamomile conditions.
The solar farm was installed on a former quarry-cum-landfill site for waste construction materials, which had been a hub of industrial activity and HGV movements for some time before Lightsource were given the opportunity to rent the land for solar energy generation. The land was levelled and installation of the solar farm was completed in the spring, with the site connected and feeding clean electricity into the national grid from 29th March this year.
Conor McGuigan, Planning and Development Director for Lightsource, comments: "Once solar farms are installed, they are remarkably passive. They are quiet, have no moving parts, and have wide avenues in between the rows of panels, meaning that about 70% of a solar farm is actually open grassland."
The passive use of pockets of land for solar energy generation can have a hugely positive impact on local plants and wildlife; allowing natural habitats to prosper undisturbed in the surrounding hedgerows and pollinating wildflowers to flourish.
"The natural colonisation we have witnessed at Tavells is a real testimony to the biodiversity benefits that solar farms can bring. It is fantastic to see", Conor continues.
The "˜before and after' pictures of the field reveal just how dramatic the transformation has been, and demonstrate, rather impressively, how solar farms can integrate successfully into the landscape in such a short period of time.
The discovery supports recent research into the biodiversity gains of solar farms, and their positive environmental impact as a form of farmland diversification. Early indications of the research, which is currently being undertaken by independent ecologists, have confirmed that leaving areas of land passive and undisturbed in order to generate solar energy can massively enhance biodiversity levels in the area. The extent of their research is due to be released in the autumn.
