Assessment of the Effects of Photovoltaic Solar Farms on Microclimate and Land Surface Through Remote Sensing Analyses

The construction and operation of photovoltaic (PV) solar parks affect local surface properties and the Earth’s energy balance. The impacts primarily manifest as albedo and Land Surface Temperature (LST) changes. The effect on local microclimate due to the installation of conventional PV or agrivoltaic (APV) plants needs to be assessed by monitoring the local weather data and the effect on the land surface parameters (i.e. temperature, water index, and so on). This depends not only on the design and layout of the plant but also on the site and specific land use, as well as the orography and climate of the concerned area. The microclimatic impacts of PV and APV systems should be evaluated by comparing the alteration in local weather and ground surface thermophysical parameters between the pre-operam and post-operam state, within a defined area surrounding the plants. This study proposes a novel methodology to assess the impact of PV solar farms on the local microclimate using satellite data and GIS technology. In particular, the variation of LST, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Water Index (LSWI), shortwave albedo, and emissivity have been investigated.