2026-10-14T22:10:31Z https://www.scidb.cn/oai

10.57760/sciencedb.37877 2026-05-22T16:22:45Z

2026-05-22 Impacts of solar panels on vegetation biomass shift with climate aridity doi:10.57760/sciencedb.37877 en Photovoltaic power generation provides a promising solution of future energy supply to achieve carbon neutrality. The rapid expansion of ground-mounted photovoltaic solar panels, however, has aroused concerns of negative impacts on ecosystems. Based on a global meta-analysis of 55 paired field observations across 55 sites, we show that solar panels exert divergent impacts on aboveground biomass in the under-panel area compared with the gap area dependent on the trade-off between a shading effect and altered water relations. Specifically, solar panels on average cause a significant decrease of under-panel aboveground biomass by 20% (-32%~-6%) in regions with aridity index (annual precipitation/potential evapotranspiration) above 0.22, whereas no significant effect is found for regions with aridity index below 0.22. Using a criterion of aridity index below 0.22, we identify a global dryland area of 11.28 million km2 where aboveground biomass is not declined by the presence of infrastructure for photovoltaic solar power generation. Within these areas, we estimate that 61 countries have a potential capacity for photovoltaic solar power generation to meet their national electricity demands. Our study identifies an aridity threshold for negative effects of solar panels on vegetation biomass and for the first time sets up biomass response boundary for future solar power utilization in global drylands. Solar panel; aboveground biomass; aridity Jiangwei Zhai Enzai Du Matthew A. Sturchio Alan.Knapp EMBARGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ dataset Science Data Bank