Research suggests that properly managed solar farms could boost declining bumblebee populations in the UK Bumblebees are a hugely important part of ecosystems: they pollinate plants, for example, helping to keep habitats healthy. Many bumblebee populations in Europe are shrinking because of climate change and habitat loss. A new study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, looks at how solar farms could help protect bumblebees in the UK.

Why are bumblebee populations declining?

Bumblebee populations are falling all over the world. A 2023 study, published by the journal Nature, predicted that roughly 38-76% of the European bumblebee species currently classified as “least concern” will lose at least 30% of the territory that is ecologically suitable for them by 2061-2080. According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, 2024 was the worst year on record for bumblebee populations in the UK.

Several factors lie behind this: changes in land use, intensive farming, invasive species and infectious diseases that affect pollinators, bumblebees among them.

Climate change also plays a significant part: there is more and more extreme weather, which can threaten bees’ habitats and disrupt their life cycle.

Solar energy’s hidden habitat

In the study, reported to be the first to examine and assess the role solar farms could play in conserving biodiversity in the future, the researchers wanted to find out how bumblebees get on with solar farms. These sites can offer a chance to create habitats for wildlife and insects, as well as supporting both low-carbon energy generation and nature recovery.

The scientists assessed 1,042 operational solar farms in Great Britain, building a high-resolution model to simulate bumblebee foraging and population dynamics. That allowed them to predict bumblebee densities in and around Britain’s solar farms, taking into account the effects of various future scenarios, such as habitat and configuration changes.

“The model predicts how bees use the landscape, based on foraging and nesting resources,” explains Hollie Blaydes, a senior research associate at Lancaster University and the study’s lead author. “That aspect was novel – modelling of this kind, and in this much detail, is unusual.”

The model indicates that bumblebee numbers on solar farms could more than double if the sites were managed with biodiversity in mind. Wildflowers on the sites provide a rich source of food, especially compared with grassland.

A “refuge” for bumblebees

Solar farm management plans for “boosting bumblebee numbers” were mainly tied to the sites themselves. Landscape changes around solar farms had a greater effect on bumblebee density. In the authors’ view, this shows that “a single solar farm does not generally offset the effects of the wider land-use change anticipated under future scenarios”. Since many countries are building solar farms to meet renewable energy commitments, the authors urge that their “strategic placement” be considered, so that bumblebee habitats can be connected.

“Solar farms can be a refuge for bumblebees both today and in the future. Managed properly, they could help ease habitat loss,” says Hollie Blaydes. “Solar farms alone, however, will not be able to offset all the effects of future land-use change on bumblebees, or on biodiversity more broadly.”