EcoWatch
Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k Subscribe Subscribe
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Conservation
  • Food + Agriculture
  • Renewables
  • Oceans
  • Policy
  • Insights + Opinion
  • Go Solar Today
      • Top Companies By State
        • California Solar Companies
        • Texas Solar Companies
        • New York Solar Companies
        • Florida Solar Companies
        • See All States
      • Top Incentives By State
        • California Solar Incentives
        • Texas Solar Incentives
        • New York Solar Incentives
        • Florida Solar Incentives
        • See All States
      • Solar Panel Costs By State
        • Solar Panel Costs in California
        • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
        • Solar Panel Costs in New York
        • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
        • See All States
      • Value of Solar by State
        • Is Solar Worth It In California?
        • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
        • Is Solar Worth It New York?
        • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
        • See All States
      • Company Reviews
        • Tesla Solar Review
        • Sunrun Solar Review
        • SunPower Solar Review
        • Vivint Solar Review
        • See All Companies
      • Common Solar Questions
        • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
        • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
        • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
        • Can You Finance Solar?
        • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
        • Payback On Solar Panels?
      • Solar Resources
        • Interactive Solar Calculator
        • Federal Solar Tax Credit
        • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
        • Tesla Solar Roof Review
        • Cheapest Solar Panels
      • Companies Compared
        • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs SunPower
        • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
        • SunPower vs ADT Solar
EcoWatch
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Conservation
  • Food + Agriculture
  • Renewables
  • Oceans
  • Policy
  • Insights + Opinion
  • Go Solar Today
    • Go Solar Today
    • Top Companies By State
      • California Solar Companies
      • Texas Solar Companies
      • New York Solar Companies
      • Florida Solar Companies
      • See All States
    • Top Incentives By State
      • California Solar Incentives
      • Texas Solar Incentives
      • New York Solar Incentives
      • Florida Solar Incentives
      • See All States
    • Solar Panel Costs By State
      • Solar Panel Costs in California
      • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
      • Solar Panel Costs in New York
      • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
      • See All States
    • Value of Solar by State
      • Is Solar Worth It In California?
      • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
      • Is Solar Worth It New York?
      • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
      • See All States
    • Company Reviews
      • Tesla Solar Review
      • Sunrun Solar Review
      • SunPower Solar Review
      • Vivint Solar Review
      • See All Companies
    • Common Solar Questions
      • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
      • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
      • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
      • Can You Finance Solar?
      • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
      • Payback On Solar Panels?
    • Solar Resources
      • Interactive Solar Calculator
      • Federal Solar Tax Credit
      • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
      • Tesla Solar Roof Review
      • Cheapest Solar Panels
    • Companies Compared
      • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs SunPower
      • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
      • SunPower vs ADT Solar

The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k
    EcoWatch
    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 558k Twitter 222k Instagram 52k
    Home Renewable Energy

    New California Project Uses Solar Panels to Restore Native Prairie, Pollinator Habitat

    By: Olivia Rosane
    Published: December 19, 2022
    Edited by Chris McDermott
    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon
    The Rancho Seco site near Sacramento, California
    The Rancho Seco site near Sacramento, California. Jessica Fox / EPRI
    Why you can trust us

    Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

    An innovative solar project at a decommissioned nuclear power plant in California has found a way to tackle both the climate and biodiversity crises. 

    Non-profit the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) announced Thursday that they would restore native prairie and habitat for pollinators beneath and around 160 megawatts (MW) of solar panels. 

    “The Rancho Seco project is a unique collaboration at the intersection of communities, biodiversity, and climate-friendly energy,” EPRI senior technical executive and conservation biologist Jessica Fox said in a press release. “Successful demonstration could provide the blueprint for future renewable energy projects throughout the country that are restorative not just in their kilowatts, but also for local people and biodiversity.”

    Today @EPRINews @SMUDupdates launched a new collaborative project to restore prairie land and #pollinator habitat under solar arrays and along other portions of 20 acres of land at the Rancho Seco site in Sacramento County, #CA: https://t.co/pwCMCYiEK1 pic.twitter.com/ciIPU0PY1h

    — EPRI (@EPRINews) December 15, 2022

    The new project is an example of agrivoltaics, the emerging practice of combining land-based farming and solar farms. It can involve everything from using solar arrays to allow agricultural land to rest and soil to restore itself to growing edible crops beneath solar panels, as CleanTechnica explained. The California project is an example of one of the earliest types of agrivoltaic applications: using the space beneath solar panels to restore habitat for pollinators.

    More From EcoWatch
    • The Best Solar Panels for Farming
    • What Is Community Solar?
    • The Best Off-Grid Solar Panel Systems
    • Guide to Going Solar In California

    This is a vitally important goal: pollinators including bees and butterflies are needed to grow around 35 percent of the world’s food crops, as PV Magazine pointed out. Yet human activity has pushed insect populations to the brink of collapse, with scientists warning about an insect apocalypse because of declining numbers.

    The California project is an example of restoration in more ways than one. It is located on the site of the former Rancho Seco nuclear power plant. This plant was decommissioned in 1989 after more than one concerning incident, according to CleanTechnica. Now, the 2,000-acre site is a place for nature and different types of energy. 

    First, it houses the Cosumnes Power Plant, which is a gas-powered plant, according to PV Magazine. However, the plant site also includes a nature preserve that offers habitat to the federally protected California Tiger Salamander. Then, in February 2021, the Rancho Seco Solar II project was added. This 160-MW solar array is operated by D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments through an agreement with SMUD.

    Finally, the agrivoltaics project will restore prairie under both the solar panels and other areas of a 20-acre chunk of the Rancho Seco site, according to the press release. The project is a collaboration between EPRI; SMUD; the University of California, Davis; the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments; and NovaSource Power. The project will be implemented in stages over four years and include measuring changes in energy, management costs and carbon stored in the soil. It will also go towards SMUD’s 2030 Zero Carbon Plan.

    “We are excited for this project to consider multiple levels of energy including solar power, the energy needs of the biological ecosystem, and the restoration of cultural energy for our communities,” Kathleen Ave, SMUD’s senior climate and ecosystem strategist and co-chair of its Power-In-Pollinators initiative, said in the press release.

    The Power-In-Pollinators initiative was launched by EPRI in 2018 to bring power companies together to learn about pollinators. It is the largest collaboration of its kind in North America.

    Agrivoltaics projects like this one are a potential means of bridging the gap between solar developers and rural denizens, who are less likely to have access to solar energy and have become increasingly opposed to it recently, according to CleanTechnica. 

    “We’re trying to create a model that other solar developers can follow,” UC Davis associate professor and Wild Energy Center Director Rebecca R. Hernandez said in the press release. “This is an opportunity to stack California prairie with solar energy and begin to restore the 98% of prairie habitat that’s been lost.”

    Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

      By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

      Olivia Rosane

      Olivia Rosane is an environmental journalist with a decade’s worth of experience. She has been contributing to EcoWatch since 2018 and has also covered environmental themes for Common Dreams, Atmos, Rewilding, Seattle Met, Treehugger, The Trouble, YES! Magazine and Real Life. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and a master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.
      Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

      Read More

      'Poisoning the Well' Authors Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin on PFAS Contamination and Why It 'Has Not Received the Attention It Deserves'
      In the introduction to Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin’s new
      By Craig Thompson
      Facing Climate Anxiety With Visual Comedy: 'World Without End' Graphic Artist Christophe Blain
      Jean-Marc Jancovici is a well-known lecturer in France, and on
      By Craig Thompson
      Threatened Heath Fritillary Butterflies See Major Population Increase in England
      There is new hope for one of the rarest butterflies
      By Paige Bennett

      Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

        By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

        Latest Articles

        • ‘Poisoning the Well’ Authors Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin on PFAS Contamination and Why It ‘Has Not Received the Attention It Deserves’
          by Craig Thompson
          July 8, 2025
        • River Seine in Paris Reopens for Public Swimming for the First Time in 100 Years
          by Paige Bennett
          July 7, 2025
        • Facing Climate Anxiety With Visual Comedy: ‘World Without End’ Graphic Artist Christophe Blain
          by Craig Thompson
          July 5, 2025
        • Certain Gut Microbes Found to Absorb Ingested PFAS: Study
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          July 3, 2025
        • Higher Levels of PFAS Found in Waterways Downstream From Wastewater Treatment Plants: Report
          by Paige Bennett
          July 3, 2025
        • UN Climate Expert Urges Criminalization of Fossil Fuel Disinformation to Protect Basic Human Rights
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          July 2, 2025
        • EPA Employees Sign ‘Declaration of Dissent’ Over Trump Administration Policies
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          July 1, 2025
        • Threatened Heath Fritillary Butterflies See Major Population Increase in England
          by Paige Bennett
          July 1, 2025
        EcoWatch

        The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

          • Climate Climate
          • Animals Animals
          • Health + Wellness Health + Wellness
          • Insights + Opinion Insights + Opinion
          • Adventure Adventure
          • Oceans Oceans
          • Business Business
          • Solar Solar
          • About EcoWatch
          • Contact EcoWatch
          • EcoWatch Reviews
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy Policy
          • Learn About Solar Energy
          • Learn About Deregulated Energy
          • EcoWatch UK
          Follow Us
          Facebook 558k
          Twitter 222k
          Instagram 52k
          Subscribe Subscribe

          Experts for a healthier planet and life.

          Mentioned by:
          Learn more
          • Privacy Policy
          • Terms of Use
          • Cookie Preferences
          • Do Not Sell My Information
          © 2025 EcoWatch. All Rights Reserved.

          Advertiser Disclosure

          Our editorial team is committed to creating independent and objective content focused on helping our readers make informed decisions. To help support these efforts we receive compensation from companies that advertise with us.

          The compensation we receive from these companies may impact how and where products appear on this site. This compensation does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides within our content. We do not include all companies, products or offers that may be available.