We have been hearing for years that the expansion of solar parks threatens the countryside. The mental image we usually have is of hectares and hectares of black panels under a relentless sun, devastating the landscape and without a single bird for miles around. However, the data is beginning to tell a radically different story.
There is more life inside than outside. To understand this phenomenon, we only have to look at the most recent data in Spain. According to a report from the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF)endorsed by the independent environmental consultancy EMAT, photovoltaic enclosures are proving to be refuges full of life. After analyzing different facilities in 2025, the pattern is repeated within the park, there are more species than in the adjacent agricultural field.
The numbers in three different provinces leave no room for doubt:
- Minglanilla (Cuenca): Researchers counted a total of 32 species of birds inside the solar plant, compared to the 19 they found in the control agricultural area located just outside.
- Revilla Vallejera (Burgos): The balance recorded 39 species inside the facility compared to 34 outside.
- Trujillo (Cáceres): 31 species were detected living between the panels, compared to 25 outside them.
And what kind of tenants are arriving? They are not just common birds. The presence of protected or declining species such as the curlew, the little bustard, the roller, the owl and the lesser kestrel have been documented. And the food chain works its magic: as wild vegetation grows, insects arrive; with the insects, come the birds; and the abundance of these prey is attracting birds of prey such as eagles, vultures, hawks and owls.
There is no technology, but something simpler. To understand why this is happening you have to change the reference point. The question is not whether a solar park is ecologically better than a virgin forest, because it clearly is not. The key is to compare it with what was before in that field. In the vast majority of cases, these fields were previously intensive agricultural operations: impoverished landscapes, treated with herbicides and profoundly silent. In contrast, installing a solar park de facto introduces an ecological exclusion zone.
In other words, no pesticides or herbicides are used, hunting is prohibited and there is no tillage of the land, and human presence is reduced to very specific maintenance visits. As Martín Behar points outdirector of Studies and Environment at UNEF, this lack of chemicals, added to natural vegetation management through extensive grazing, is generating fantastic results on biodiversity.
Spain It is not an anomaly. At an international level, what science is beginning to call “conservatory” systems (the union of renewable generation and active conservation) already has fascinating evidence.
In the United Kingdom, a study led by the RSPB and the University of Cambridge analyzed six solar parks in East AngliaEdit. The conclusion was that they housed a greater wealth of birds than nearby crops. In those better managed (with unpruned hedges and varied vegetation), almost three times as many birds were found than in neighboring fields.
But perhaps the most curious story comes from Australia. A Lightsource bp study followed 1,700 merino sheep for three years. Half lived in traditional grass fields and the other half lived among photovoltaic panels. The discovery surprised everyone: the sheep that grazed in the solar park produced better quality wool. The reason is that the microclimate under the modules allowed them to alternate between fresh forage, dry grass and hay several times a year, something not feasible in a normal paddock in full sun.
It’s not enough to plant the panels and cross your fingers. Of course, the researchers themselves warn of something fundamental: that solar parks can benefit the ecosystem does not mean that they always do so by magic. It is not enough to install the panels and wait.
If you just cut the grass close and leave a “simple habitat”, there will be no miracle. For the magic to happen, active management is needed: maintain vegetation covers, use native vegetation on the margins, create ecological corridors and rely on sheep as a natural lawnmower. To push the industry in this direction, UNEF has promoted a Seal of Excellence in Sustainability, developed hand in hand with experts from WWF and SEO/BirdLife.
The debate is changing. What makes photovoltaic energy an ally for biodiversity or a territorial threat is, simply, what we decide to do with it.
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