Advancing our understanding of equitable energy transitions
Climate change and biodiversity loss are referred to as “twin crises,” posing an existential threat to people and nature. The rapid buildout of photovoltaic solar energy introduces potential adverse consequences and beneficial opportunities. What choices can we make to balance this tension? UC Wild Solar is a collaborative project addressing key gaps in our knowledge of how photovoltaic solar energy development and biodiversity interact. The Wild Energy Center studies how rapid renewable energy buildout can coincide with goals for conservation and food security.
Objectives
UC Wild Solar’s goal is to build a comprehensive plan aligning the rapid buildout of PV and biodiversity conservation to reinforce equity and justice for diverse California stakeholders.
Some of our focus areas include:
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1) Characterize and map animal and plant species interactions with photovoltaics.
2) Seed at least 40 acres of California prairie and conduct 6 months of coordinated, experimental research at UC Wild Solar research sites to understand how target species respond to PV infrastructure, associated habitat and connectivity changes, and on-site biodiversity- friendly mitigation strategies.
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1) Co-develop techno-economic assessments of biodiversity-friendly PV projects.
2) Develop broadly applicable research, education, and cooperative extension models to leverage UC Climate Action funds.
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1) Launch a state-wide, coordinated research network (‘UC Wild Solar’), which incorporates active biodiversity-friendly research sites
2) Build a partnerships to identify new potential biodiversity-friendly PV sites across California.
Ongoing projects
UC Wild Solar seeks to support solar energy transitions by:
Building knowledge foundations
The Wild Energy Center is compiling and mapping all data available for the state of California on documented photovoltaic infrastructure properties, the interactions between photovoltaic infrastructure with plant and animal species, and biodiversity- friendly mitigation strategies associated with planned and operating facilities.
These data will help inform our ‘UC Wild Solar’ stakeholder workshop during which structured feedback, brainstorming, and prioritization activities will identify opportunities to improve our approaches and answer new questions
Assessing biodiversity-friendly strategies
The Wild Energy Center is conducting six months of experiments designed to quantify the cost of biodiversity-friendly solar projects in California which could generate ecological or agricultural benefits. We seek to identify critical opportunities for cost reduction, innovation, demonstration, and scaling that UC Wild Solar can rapidly address in the near-term.
The Center is assessing three strategies: prairie restoration, agrivoltaics, and rangevoltaics
Training diverse scholars
We aim to match individual, ready-to-go projects the Project Team has developed for a cluster hire of diverse postdoctoral scholars. They will be the first cohort of ‘UC Wild Solar Postdoctoral Scholars.’
The clustering of postdoctoral scholars is intentional to overcome challenges frequently documented by women and minority groups during this career phase—leading to leaky pipelines. UC Wild Solar Postdoctoral scholars will be matched with at least one non-university end-user ‘champion mentor’
our Strategic plan
Sharing science that empowers big energy decisions
We’re making the most of UC Climate Action seed funding by translating our research into engaging new formats to reach renewable energy decision-makers beyond the sphere of academia. Our latest report defines common vocabulary used daily by scientists from the Wild Energy Center and lays out the best practices for developing sustainable voltaic landscapes.
The UC Wild Solar Network
The UC Wild Solar project harnesses and leverages expertise from across California. The people involved stand at the forefront of efforts to understand and optimize interactions among photovoltaics, biodiversity conservation, environmental justice, and socioeconomic goals.
A vision for the future
Solar energy development is rapidly expanding across California, expected the fully decarbonize the state’s energy grid by 2050. And yet, native species are vulnerable to this development. The UC Wild Solar project, therefore, acknowledges and adapts solutions within this intersection, aligning both climate change and biodiversity conservation goals.
