干旱、半干旱区光伏发电设施的生态-水文效应研究评述

Eco-hydrological Effects of Photovoltaic Power Generation Facilities on Dryland Ecosystems:A Review

干旱、半干旱地区具有少雨、入射辐射强的特点,是发展大规模光伏产业的理想区域,但光伏设施的建造运营会改变辐射、降雨等环境要素的空间分配,将对干旱、半干旱区脆弱的生态系统产生影响。从局地微气候、生态水文过程、区域生态格局和节能减排等角度评述了光伏发电设施的潜在生态水文效应,系统总结了近20年来国内外关于光伏产业发展对生态环境影响方面的研究成果。指出干旱、半干旱区大型光伏设施改善了光伏阵列间局地微气候与土壤温湿度,使得局地植被盖度和固碳潜力有所增加,但也产生了一些负面影响,如破坏了动物的栖息地、捕食策略和食物可获得性等。认为未来需加强对大型光伏系统影响下的生态水文过程的观测,识别生态水文变化机制,建立不同时空尺度下的概念模型和物理模型,探索"跨界融合"的商业模式,提高干旱、半干旱区光伏系统的环境效益和经济效益。

Arid and semi-arid regions are characterized by low annual rainfall and high solar radiation,which,together with plentiful land supplies and clear sky conditions,result in an ideal area for developing photovoltaic industry.However,both the construction and operation processes of photovoltaic facilities may put substantial influences on the fragile dryland ecosystems by changing the spatial pattern of local environmental variables(e.g.,radiation and rainfall).This paper reviewed those potential impacts of photovoltaic facilities on the dryland ecosystems from the perspectives of local microclimate,eco-hydrological processes,regional ecological pattern,and energy conservation and emissions reduction,and summarized the related research progresses in understanding the eco-environmental effects of photovoltaic generation systems on the local and regional environments during past decades.It was pointed out that the microclimate,soil temperature and humidity between photovoltaic arrays could be improved by photovoltaic facilities in dryland ecosystems,which in turn,may increase the local vegetation coverage and carbon sequestration potential.However,photovoltaic generation systems are also likely to negatively impact the local environments,e.g.,destroying animal habitats,limiting their food availability,lowering the regional biodiversity and even threating dryland ecosystem stability.The review indicates that ongoing and future researches should be oriented towards the multi-scale temporal-spatial understanding of the influence of widely-deployed photovoltaic system on dryland ecosystems,through extending the observation scales,and improve the modeling capabilities.Special focus should be put on the development of mechanismbased models for the ecohydrology of dryland environments affected by photovoltaic facilities,and the development of"cross-border integrated"photovoltaic system protocols.