Solar panels can support pollinating insects
In a recent Letter, “Rebuttal for the Insects,” Roniele Hamilton suggested that solar panels kill insects. That possibility came as a surprise to me, because, before we moved to RiverMead, my wife and I owned a home whose roof and garage were covered with solar panels. Never did we see any dead insects, either on or below the panels.
So, I’ve done some research on this subject. Although I wasn’t able to find the article cited by Hamilton, I was able to find a few similar articles. These articles, like Hamilton’s letter, were rich in assertions but poor in evidence.
When I used the search terms, “Why do solar panels kill insects?” the majority of articles were focused on protecting solar panels from wildlife (mostly bird droppings), while a few were about the real benefits that solar panels provide to insects when native wildflowers are seeded beneath the panels. The partial shade lowers temperatures and increases humidity under the panels, which allows wildflowers to thrive. Healthy wildflowers attract pollinating insects, which stimulate wildflower reproduction, creating a virtuous cycle. The pollinating insects don’t stay under the panels. They fly around in the vicinity and can provide pollination services to crops in nearby fields.
My search turned up two brief videos about solar panels, wildflowers, and pollinators. One video, “Pollinators in Solar Fields (Bee the Change),” was filmed in Vermont (https://youtu.be/uhrUx1dP8GI). The other, “Pollinators, Prairie and Power: A Sustainable Win-Win,” was filmed in Minnesota (https://youtu.be/cEw4jbQDvWc). Both videos suggest that erecting solar panels and planting native plant species under them is a good way to protect both insects and flowers and to preserve some of Earth’s incredible beauty.