Sustainable Revegetation for Solar Sites

Our nation is striving to create a more sustainable future. With each solar MW installed we are cleaning the air, creating economic opportunity, and propelling industries forward. However, in certain installations we are also creating significant impacts from utility scale deployment on the ground beneath the panels. Ironically, there is a need to improve the way we develop the solar generation sites themselves to be more sustainable; soil rejuvenation and erosion control is paramount in that need.

IECA member participation in solar site development is a trend in its infancy, but presents incredible growth opportunity for erosion control professionals. To see the opportunity for IECA members in this field, we need only look at the statistics. The solar expansion spans all 50 states, with generation acreage expected to experience quadruple growth or more over the next decade.

Moreover, a majority all new solar jobs are construction and installation jobs – one has to acknowledge that this trend inherently means that adjacent and complementing contractor opportunities (i.e., erosion control installation) are seeing similar demand.
Embarking into this new frontier, we must acknowledge that solar sites present unique challenges that must be addressed by erosion control and storm water professionals to establish sustainable vegetation and storm water management. The landscapes being converted to solar sites frequently suffer from poor soil health due to previous land uses and/or are in climate zones that make vegetation establishment difficult.

This 30-minute session will identify the previous land uses of today’s (and tomorrow’s) solar sites and how they present unique challenges. Additionally, we will present a comparison of soil improvement technologies and erosion control solutions to overcome the challenges. Participants will learn the "how", "where", "why" details necessary to apply these materials and techniques to improve results on utility scale solar sites.