Moor PV: Climate protection and electricity from the moor - A nationwide project!

Moor PV: Climate protection and electricity from the moor - A nationwide project!

An innovative research project called “MoorPower” is currently being carried out in Germany to investigate the feasibility of photovoltaic (PV) systems on rewetted moorland. The interdisciplinary project is supported by a cooperation between the University of Greifswald, the University of Hohenheim, the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. It receives financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) amounting to seven million euros, which will be provided over a period of three and a half years.

Moors, which only make up around 5% of Germany's total area, are widespread in the northern German lowlands and in the foothills of the Alps. However, over 70% of these peatlands have been drained for agricultural use, leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that depleted peatlands cause around 44% of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, which corresponds to around 43 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents per year. Rewetting these areas is one of the most effective measures to reduce emissions in order to achieve the defined climate goals.

New scientific territory

The “MoorPower” project is a pioneering project that examines the technical, ecological, socio-economic effects and legal issues of the combination of moor rewetting and photovoltaics. The focus is particularly on drained and heavily degraded moorland areas that are currently used for agriculture. Peatlands in protected areas that are valuable from a nature conservation point of view are excluded from use. The federal government has been promoting the construction of solar systems on former moorland since 2023, provided that these are permanently rewetted, which could increase the attractiveness of rewetting for farmers.

As part of the project, an interdisciplinary team is researching the interactions between PV systems and moor ecology. This happens, for example, in an experimental area in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where various PV system designs are tested on agriculturally used fens. A material test area in Baden-Württemberg tests the effects of different materials on the moor surface as well as their influence on water quality, soil physics and the microbiome.

Targeted recommendations for action

The accompanying research on the ecological effects of moorland PV is the heart of the project. Among other things, this examines the effects of shading from PV systems on plants typical of moors in pot experiments. At a location in Lower Saxony, the greenhouse gas balance is recorded on a practical scale in order to obtain valuable data on the ecological and economic viability of moorland PV.

The environmental benefits are viewed as twofold: The project not only supports carbon storage in wet moorland soils, but also the social goals within the framework of the Natural Climate Protection (ANK) action program. The implementation of PV systems on rewetted soils could therefore not only contribute to a reduction in emissions, but also promote biodiversity and provide renewable resources.

Overall, it is important to note that the implementation of the “MoorPower” initiative addresses key challenges such as climate protection, energy security and sustainable agriculture, while at the same time creating a scientific basis for future projects that enables the simultaneous use of such areas to promote climate goals and sustainable energy production in Germany.