Satellite-Based Assessment of Potential Microclimatic Effects of Photovoltaic (PV) Power Plants in Vulnerable Agroecosystems

There is a strong global increase in the installation of renewable energy power plants, due to increasing energy demand in the electricity generation sector and fast cost reduction. Recent studies indicate that the installation and operation of photovoltaic (PV) power plants have negligible microclimatic effects, although there are minor effects on night temperature in some cases, which, however, do not justify climate or environmental change. The development of solar energy and the installation and operation of PV power plants serve as a key solution for the energy transition to reduce carbon emissions and to address global warming. Despite the benefit of emission reduction, the deployment of solar energy through the installation of solar power plants causes land cover changes and may have minor effects on the surface energy balance by modifying roughness and albedo, biodiversity by disturbing habitats, and water resources by requiring water for cooling and cleaning. These changes may also lead to minor climatic, ecological, and social impacts. The objective of the paper consists of assessing the potential microclimatic effects of photovoltaic power plants based on satellite-based land surface temperature (LST) analyses. Specifically, the potential change in the land surface temperature, both under photovoltaic panels and on the panels, in relation to the temperature of the surrounding area is being examined in this study. The implementation is conducted in Mediterranean ecosystems, which are considered vulnerable agroecosystems due to increased climate variability. The final Landsat-based time series analysis further supports this synthesis, reporting that monthly LST differences between the PV Park and surrounding area are negligible and do not indicate a meaningful microclimate alteration attributable to PV operations. Accordingly, the evidence supports the core conclusion: utility-scale PV deployment does not constitute a driver of climate change, and the documented effects are best understood as localized surface–atmosphere energy-balance perturbations whose sign and magnitude depend on land cover, seasonality, and operation.