Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy—Wind and Solar

Wind

• Bird and bat species are a top concern for protection from wind turbines.
  • Especially key protected, threatened, or endangered species: Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, little brown bat, tri-colored bat, and bald eagles.
• Each developer must file for an Incidental Take Permit with the nearest U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ecological Services Office, which sets a limit to the amount of damage by wind turbines to vulnerable species. 
  • That application includes a Habitat Conservation Plan detailing how the developer will not only avoid damaging, but protect vulnerable species.
• These plans are part of complying with the Endangered Species Act.
   
• Operating wind farms must conduct baseline bird and bat fatality monitoring in compliance with state and federal law.
  • Turbines are checked weekly for bird and bat fatalities.
• Investing in habitat conservation and considering the nesting and migration patterns are also options to meet requirements.
   
• Wind developers are now performing acoustic surveys and radio tracking of threatened species to understand migration, mating, and nesting habits.

Solar

• Land used for utility scale solar projects can cause habitat loss. 
  • Pollinator-friendly solar sites can combine habitat for pollinators with solar arrays, and has been supported through state policy in Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and Illinois.
• Three states—Connecticut, North Carolina, and Washington—have passed policies restricting siting solar projects on agricultural land through either state legislation or county ordinances.
  • As an alternative, low-impact solar and co-location of solar and agriculture is a growing area of research with three categories of design:
    • Solar-centric
    • Vegetation-centric
    • Co-location
• Solar developers have found that combining solar generation with pollinator habitat or grazing land can reduce operations and maintenance costs.