Thursday, June 27th, 2024, 1:00 PM (ET)
Biodiversity responses to solar farm development and operation lacks substantial empirical data across taxonomic groups and geographical regions. However, our understanding of insect biodiversity responses to PV solar farms is growing, and two new studies from the United Kingdom and United States highlight positive biodiversity responses of insects at PV solar farms.
Moderator: Dr. Josh Ennen, Senior Scientist, Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute
Speakers:
- Leroy J. Walston Jr., Ecologist, Argonne National Lab
- Hollie Blaydes, Post Doc Researcher, Lancaster University
Lee Walston is an ecologist at Argonne National Laboratory where he is head of the Ecology, Natural Resources, and Managed Systems Department within the Environmental Science Division. He has over a decade of experience in efforts to better understand and minimize the ecological impacts of solar energy. For the past 5 years he has supported DOE-funded projects to evaluate the ecological and ecosystem service opportunities of solar energy dual land use practices. He has also served on several renewable energy advisory boards and working groups such as the Renewable Energy Working Group for The Wildlife Society.
Hollie Blaydes is a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University (UK) where she is working across projects that aim to better understand the impacts of ground mounted solar farms on biodiversity in temperate systems. Since 2019, Hollie’s research has focused on insect pollinators and how they respond to solar farms using a combination of field- and modelling-based approaches. She has also worked as an ecological analyst for the UK trade body for solar to bring together data from across the country and examine national level trends.