Effects of photovoltaic projects on desert ecosystems: A review

The rapid development of the photovoltaic (PV) industry is boosting the energy transition, while exerting profound impacts on fragile ecosystems such as deserts and saline-alkali lands in northwestern China. We reviewed the effects of photovoltaic projects on microclimates, soils, vegetation, and biological soil crusts (BSCs). PV projects could improve the local environment through shading, humidification, and windbreak effects, and thus facilitate vegetation restoration and BSCs development, while it could improve potentially the heat island effects, which might further alter biotic community structures. These ecological responses exhibit spatiotemporal variations. The restoration process of ecosystems exert feedbacks on efficiency and operational stability of photovoltaic power generation, collectively forming a coupled system of "PV-climate-soil-organism". Currently, long-term monitoring and in-depth mechanistic analysis studies are rather scarce. Future research should prioritize cross-scale and interdisciplinary investigations to provide scientific basis for the coordinated development of PV base construction and ecological conservation in fragile arid and semi-arid regions.