Installing solar panels on rooftops has become common practice across the world, but energy production is much more economical and efficient in large-scale solar farms. However, building these vast facilities in desert habitats, where local flora and fauna are extremely sensitive to variations in temperature and humidity, raises questions about their environmental impacts. How do solar farms affect these fragile ecosystems, and conversely, how do desert conditions influence the performance and sustainability of solar installations?
A recent study, published in “Advances in Atmospheric Sciences,” was led by Professor Carlos Coimbra of the University of California, San Diego. It details the thermal exchanges between the panels of solar farms and their environment. This analysis makes it possible to examine the thermal effects of solar power plants on desert habitats and, reciprocally, the influence of these habitats on the performance of solar panels.
The emerging field of energy meteorology
Coimbra’s work is part of the energy meteorologya field that encompasses all the effects that climate can have on energy production, transmission and distribution. In the Coimbra study, however, attention is focused solely on solar power generation, broadening the usual spectrum to include not only the impact of weather on solar power plants, but also the reverse impact of these central on the local environment.
The ability to calculate thermal balances of solar panels, based on their hardware components, allows relationships to be derived between difficult-to-measure flow-dependent variables, such as average convective heat transfer coefficients and radiative fluxes to and from the panels. These relationships can then be exploited through measurements or model estimations to provide a more complete and coherent picture of the thermal effects of solar farms on the local environment.
Additionally, the study proposes a method to classify regional microclimates in terms of the effective optical depth of the cloud atmosphere. This classification can provide valuable information for the design, siting and management of solar power plants, complementing monthly, daily or hourly average values of cloud cover or clarity indices for short-duration radiation.
Response to environmental concerns
Professor Coimbra stressed the importance of addressing concerns and criticisms faced by the solar industry with sound science. He indicated: “ It is our responsibility in the solar research community to address the concerns and criticisms the solar industry faces with the best science possible. It is possible that the net thermal impact of large power plants is minimal or even beneficial, but the contradictory results reported in the scientific literature indicate the need to study the problem from the perspective of fundamental thermal balances. »
In this sense, the work presented in this publication aims to encourage solar engineers and energy meteorologists to further their research into the environmental impacts of large solar installations. This analysis serves as a starting point for those interested in exploring new research opportunities in energy meteorology applied to solar farms.
Illustration caption: A solar farm in the desert. Credit: Coimbra Research Group, 2018
Article : ‘Energy Meteorology for the Evaluation of Solar Farm Thermal Impacts on Desert Habitats’ / ( 10.1007/s00376-024-4242-3 ) – Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences – Publication dans la revue Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
Source : UC San Diego
