bees

A new study from researchers at the universities of Lancaster and Reading in the UK has managed to quantify the economic boost provided by the symbiotic relationship between solar farms and honeybee hives.

Iberdrola has built apiaries at its Andévalo and Núñez de Balboa solar power plants in Spain. The company wants to build more beehives at its other PV facilities throughout the country.

Engie Green has joined forces with the associations France Nature Environnement and Apicluster to install beehives at several of its solar PV parks in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur region, in southern France.

According to new research from the U.K., solar parks may help maintain natural habitats for pollinators that could be, otherwise, destroyed by intensive farming. The study also highlights that biodiversity could be both positively and negatively affected by solar parks and associated land-use change.

Endesa plans to set up beekeeping projects at two of its PV plants. The pilot initiative will include the cultivation of 3 hectares of plants that will be pollinated by bees.