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Energizing the Monarch Butterfly Migration

By Dan Salas, University of Illinois Chicago, Energy Resources Center – Sustainable Landscapes Program

The iconic monarch butterfly faces numerous threats in its migration across North America. Habitat loss, invasive species, pesticide use effects, disease, drought, and changing temperatures have collectively squeezed a vice of stressors on monarch butterfly populations. At the same time, the U.S. is undergoing a great energy transition towards renewable energy. Development of large utility-scale solar and other renewable energy projects is transforming landscapes in some parts of the country.

What will this energy transformation mean for pollinators like the monarch butterfly? That largely depends on the landscape change it brings. Fortunately, this changing landscape has given birth to a new form of land use: agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics is the coupling of energy generation and agricultural production and can be represented by a mix of land uses that produce on-farm income, like grazing, crop production, or honeybee hive management. Agrivoltaics may also include ecovoltaics which often refers to establishing pollinator habitat. Such pollinator habitat can also benefit on-farm yields in surrounding croplands[1].

Can Solar Energize the Monarch Migration?

The Solar Futures Study[2] published in 2021 by the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that as much as 10.2 million acres may be required for solar development to achieve the 2050 renewable energy targets. Incorporating agrivoltaics into these changing lands can help diversify agricultural economies, reduce pesticide use, and increase pollinator habitat. But can these lands also help fuel the monarch migration?

The monarch butterfly population has undergone severe declines since the 1980s. This past winter (2023-2024) reported the second lowest populations for eastern monarch butterflies since they have been measured[3]. As noted, these declines are the result of a combination of factors, chief among them habitat loss and degradation. Loss of habitat reduces the butterflies’ resilience to other stressors, such as pesticide use, severe weather, and drought.

Pollinator Habitat Can be Risky Business

While greatly needed, creating pollinator habitat can be risky business for solar operators. But it’s not the potential for stinging insects that draws concern; statistically speaking, people have a better chance of dying from catastrophic storms than from a bee sting[6].

Rather, providing habitat to species at risk of extinction, while noble and beneficial, may unintentionally result in increased regulatory restrictions and operational limitations on a site operator. A species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (or comparable tribal or state regulations) can add time, cost, and complexity to managing land and maintaining facilities over the life of a project.

Rewarding a Helping Hand

For this reason, the Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group, facilitated by the University of Illinois Chicago’s (UIC) Sustainable Landscapes Program, created a conservation agreement known as the Monarch CCAA (Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances). This agreement promotes upfront commitments to sustain or create habitat for the monarch butterfly. In exchange, companies receive regulatory assurances that no additional endangered species regulations will be required in recognition of their proactive conservation commitments.

This prospect has motivated solar developers and owners to consider enrolling in the program. Since its authorization in 2020, the program has resulted in over one million acres of monarch habitat commitments across the U.S. While being the largest voluntary conservation agreement in the U.S., it still requires more enrollment to achieve the levels of conservation needed for the butterfly. Previous studies have suggested that millions of acres of monarch habitat are required to achieve levels of conservation needed to avoid the threat of the migratory butterfly population’s extinction[7].

Biodiversity and wildlife habitat have been marginalized (literally) along field edges, fencerows, roadsides, and utility corridors. The Monarch CCAA offers energy and transportation land managers a chance to demonstrate commitments for monarch conservation, biodiversity net gain, and support for recovering other at-risk species.

Solar companies considering enrollment are encouraged to review resources available on the Monarch CCAA Toolkit[8], including enrollment guidance, webinars, and the application form. Contact UIC’s Sustainable Landscapes team with additional questions at dsalas4@uic.edu.

Learn More About the Monarch CCAA

The Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group at the University of Illinois-Chicago led a national collaborative effort to develop a voluntary conservation agreement to provide habitat for the monarch butterfly. The effort is unprecedented in terms of its cross-sector participation and geographic extent. The agreement spans the entire contiguous 48 states and is helping agencies and companies transform their vegetation management to benefit wildlife in need. Learn more at rightofway.erc.uic.edu/national-monarch-ccaa/.

About the University of Illinois Chicago Sustainable Landscapes Program

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Energy Resources Center is home to the Sustainable Landscapes Program and the Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group, which convenes people at the intersection of biodiversity and infrastructure.

[1] Pollinator habitat near soybean fields was found to have a positive effect on insect visitation and soybean yield. See Levenson et al. 2022, doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2022.107901, and Garibaldi et al. 2021, doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.03.013.

[2] Read more at energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/Solar%20Futures%20Study.pdf.

[3] Read more at worldwildlife.org/stories/eastern-migratory-monarch-butterfly-populations-decrease-by-59-in-2024.

[4] Check out our online map of native seed vendors and specialists at: rightofway.erc.uic.edu/resources/seed-expert-map/.

[5] See Walston et al. 2024, iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0f72; Levenson et al. 2022, doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2022.107901; and Garibaldi et al. 2021, doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.03.013.

[6] From injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/.

[7] See Thogmartin et al. 2017, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7637

[8] See rightofway.erc.uic.edu/working-group-access/monarchccaatoolkit.

Energizing the Monarch Migration 82024Download

Solar Parks: A Review on Impacts, Mitigation Mechanism Through Agrivoltaics and Techno-economic Analysis

The current work has a reviewed agrivoltaic projects in India and identified the management practices, constraints, cost econmoics and policy framework. A review of works done on solar park impact assessment and mitigation mechanism by agrivoltaics are done in detail. The work has considered agrivoltaics from a social aspect and focused on impacts due to loss of livelihoods and associated externalities under social impact classification. The social impact assessment concludes that, livelihood impacts can lead to extinction of cultures, urban migrations, growth of uncontrolled peri‑urban regions, the long-term impacts are beyond economics.

1-s2.0-S2772427123000505-mainDownload

Vegetation Management Cost and Maintenance Implications of Different Ground Covers at Utility-Scale Solar Sites

In this paper, researchers perform data analysis to detail the per-activity and total O&M costs for vegetation management at PV sites with different ground covers and management practices.

sustainability-15-05895-v2Download

Economic Efficiency of Climate Smart Agriculture Technology: Case of Agrophotovoltaics

In this article, researchers in Korea analyze the profitability of agrivoltaics and its implications for rural sustainability. The profitability of agrivoltaics is verified in all studied regions, and the order of profitability and productivity by region are opposite to each other. Researchers suggest that regions with lower productivity may have a higher preference for installing agrivoltaics, implying the installation of agrivoltaics provides a new incentive to continue farming even in regions with low agricultural productivity.

land-12-00090Download

Implementation of Agrophotovoltaics: Techno-economic Analysis of the Price-performance Ratio and its Policy Implications

This study presents data for a techno-economic price-performance ratio calculation retrieved from an inter- and transdisciplinary agriphotovoltaic case study in Germany.

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Homeowner’s Guide to the Federal Tax Credit for Solar Photovoltaics

This guide provides an overview of the federal investment tax credit for residential solar photovoltaics (PV). The federal residential solar energy credit is a tax credit that can be
claimed on federal income taxes for a percentage of the cost of a solar PV system paid for by the taxpayer.

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New York Community Solar – Facility Decommissioning Plan

Delaware River Solar (“DRS”) proposes to build multiple photovoltaic (PV) solar facilities (each a “Solar Facility”) throughout New York State under New York State’s Community Solar initiative. Each Solar Facility is planned to have a nameplate capacity of approximately 2 megawatts (MW) alternating current (AC) and be built on a 10-12 acre parcel of private land (each a “Facility Site”). This Decommissioning Plan (“Plan”) provides an overview of activities that will occur during the decommissioning phase of a Solar Facility, including; activities related to the restoration of land, the management of materials and waste, projected costs, and a decommissioning fund agreement overview. This decommissioning plan is based on current best management practices and procedures. This Plan may be subject to revision based on new standards and emergent best management practices at the time of decommissioning. Permits will be obtained as required and notification will be given to stakeholders prior to decommissioning.

AttG1_DRS-Decomm-PlanDownload

One Stone; Two Birds: Concurrent Pest Control and Pollination Services Provided by Aphidophagous Hoverflies

Biological pest control and pollination are vital ecosystem services that are usually studied in isolation, given that they are typically provided by different guilds of arthropods. Hoverflies are an exception, as larvae of many aphidophagous species prey upon agriculturally important aphid pests, while the adults feed on floral nectar and pollen and can be effective pollinators of important agricultural crops. While this is widely known, the concurrent provisioning of pest control and pollination by aphidophagous hoverflies has never been studied. Here, we compared the potential of two aphidophagous hoverflies, Eupeodes corollae and Sphaerophoria rueppellii to concurrently control the aphid Myzus persicae and improve pollination (measured as seed set and fruit weight) in sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum). In a first semi-field experiment, aphid populations were reduced by 71 and 64% in the E. corollae and S. rueppellii treatments, respectively, compared to the control. In a second experiment, the aphid population reduction was 80 and 84% for E. corollae and S. rueppellii, respectively. Fruit yield in aphidinfested plants, was significantly increased by 88 and 62% for E. corollae and S. rueppellii, respectively, as compared to the control. In a separate trial, where the plants were not infested with aphids, yield increased by 29 and 11% for E. corollae and S. rueppellii, respectively, even though these differences were not statistically significant. The increase in seed set in the hoverfly treatments was statistically significant in both pollination experiments, i.e. independently of the presence of aphids. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that aphidophagous hoverflies can concurrently provide pest control and pollination services.

Pekas et al. 2020 One stone two birds.cleanedDownload

Techno-economic feasibility analysis of Benban solar Park

By 2035, Egypt pursues to generate 22% of the total electricity from photovoltaic power plants to meet the national spreading demand for electricity. The Egyptian government has implemented feed-in tariffs (FiT) support program to provide the economic incentives to invest in the PV power plants. The present study is carried out to evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of a largescale grid-connected photovoltaic (LS GCPV) of the Benban Solar Park with a total capacity of 1600 MW AC producing annual electricity of 3.8 TWh. The characteristics of PV panels considering the meteorological data of Benban Solar Park are evaluated. Additionally, the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to constructing Benban Solar Park is assessed. As well, the influences of annual operation and maintenance cost and the interest rate on the electricity cost and the payback period are evaluated. The results indicate that the electricity cost is about 8.1¢US/kWh with 10.1 years payback period, which is indeed economically feasible with an interest rate of 12%. Furthermore, the Benban Solar Park will avoid annually almost 1.2 million tons of greenhouse gas. The working conditions of the previous study which aimed to improve the performance of solar panels using cooling water are similar to the Benban solar Park. This study showed that utilizing of water cooling for solar panels leads to an increase in the electrical energy output by 8.2%. This attributed to maximizing the benefit when cultivating the vast land area on which the station is built, and using the irrigation water to cool the PV panels, and then for the irrigation process. Thus, a double advantage can be achieved; first, an increase in the electrical energy output by 8.2% in the summer months where the panel surface temperature is high. Second, the agricultural crops as an economic value, as the solar panels are located at a height of 1.5m from the surface of the earth. The PV solar panels are installed above the existing cultivated areas while the maintained spaces among rows of PV modules provide the necessary solar radiation for crops.



1-s2.0-S1110016822004148-main

Techno Economic Modeling for Agrivoltaics: Can Agrivoltaics be more profitable than Ground mounted PV?

Agrivoltaics is a dual land-use approach to collocate solar energy generation with agriculture for preserving the terrestrial ecosystem and enabling food-energy-water synergies. Here, we present a systematic approach to model the economic performance of agrivoltaics relative to standalone ground-mounted PV and explore how the module design configuration can affect the dual food-energy economic performance. A remarkably simple criterion for economic feasibility is quantified that relates the land preservation cost to dual food-energy profit. We explore case studies including both high and low value crops under fixed tilt bifacial modules oriented either along the conventional North/South facings or vertical East/West facings. For each module configuration, the array density is varied to explore an economically feasible design space relative to ground-mounted PV for a range of module to land cost ratio (𝑴𝑳) – a location-specific indicator relating the module technology (hardware and installation) costs to the soft (land acquisition, tax, overheads, etc.) costs. To offset a typically higher agrivoltaic module cost needed to preserve the cropland, both East/West and North/South orientated modules favor high value crops, reduced (<60%) module density, and higher 𝑴𝑳 (>𝟐𝟓). In contrast, higher module density and an increased feed-in-tariff (𝑭𝑰𝑻) relative to ground-mounted PV are desirable at lower 𝑴𝑳. The economic trends vary sharply for 𝑴𝑳< 10 but tend to saturate for 𝑴𝑳> 20. For low value crops, ~15% additional 𝑭𝑰𝑻 can enable economic equivalence to ground-mounted PV at standard module density. Researchers have presented a techno-economic modeling framework to assess and predict the economic performance of 𝐴𝑉 systems relative to the standard ground mounted 𝑃𝑉. The effects of module design configurations including array density and orientation, income from crop, technology specific and land related costs, and 𝐹𝐼𝑇 are explored. To support cropland preservation, 𝐴𝑉 typically has a higher module technology cost as compared to standard 𝑃𝑉 primarily due to elevated mounting and customized foundations that can potentially make it economically non-attractive for 𝑃𝑉 investors. They show that it is possible to design an economically attractive 𝐴𝑉 system by selecting suitable crops and module configuration for the given land costs and 𝐹𝐼𝑇.



Techno Economic Modeling for Agrivoltaics