As the number of major utility-scale ground solar panel installations grows, concerns about their impacts on natural hydrologic processes also have grown.
As the number of major utility-scale ground solar panel installations grows, concerns about their impacts on natural hydrologic processes also have grown. However, a new study by Penn State researchers suggests that excess runoff or increased erosion can be easily mitigated — if these “solar farms” are properly built.
Solar panels are impervious to water, and vast arrays of them, it was feared, could increase the volume and velocity of stormwater runoff similar to concrete and asphalt. But after conducting a year-long field investigation of soil moisture patterns, solar radiation and vegetation at two solar farms in central Pennsylvania — built on slopes representative of the Northeast U.S. — the researchers concluded that such installations should not present negative implications for stormwater management.
In findings recently published in Journal of Hydrology, the team reported that healthy vegetation and well-draining soils can help manage runoff on solar farms, and where necessary on more challenging landscapes, engineered stormwater controls can manage any unmitigated runoff.
Read more at Penn State
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