BiodIvErSe

Project period

May 2025 - July 2029

Project management

IZES gGmbH

Funding organisations

Interreg Europe

Project description

What are the project goals?

• Combining climate protection, the energy transition and biodiversity more closely in the expansion of photovoltaics
• Develop six regional strategies for the accelerated expansion of I-PV
• Development of legally compliant assessment methods for ecological impacts
• Accelerate authorisation processes in the regions
• Strengthening the basis for political decision-making
• Consideration of regional characteristics and land potential

According to the latest drafts of the national energy and climate plans of the participating regions, solar energy will play a decisive role in this transition in order to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. Increased use of photovoltaic systems leads to increased land use, which poses a challenge for nature and landscape conservation as well as public acceptance. The EU strategy for solar energy therefore focuses on innovative photovoltaic (I-PV) systems for diverse land use. This is intended to create synergies by strengthening climate resilience in agriculture, on peatlands and for water bodies, while preserving nature conservation. To date, the responsible authorities have gained little or no experience with planning, authorisation and implementation procedures for the accelerated use of I-PV.

The main challenges are methods to assess (negative, neutral, positive) environmental aspects. While some regions are leading the way in preparing their administrative framework for specific I-PV applications (e.g. Austria: floating PV; Germany: Agri-PV), other regions face the challenge of how to make legally compliant, assessment-based decisions.

Within BiodIvErSe, 9 partners (including 1 consulting and 2 research companies) from Germany, Latvia, Poland, Greece, Ukraine, Austria and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as 2 associated political authorities from Germany and Austria are working together to close knowledge gaps and develop criteria for regional potential analysis and approval as well as for strategic planning and implementation methods. As a result, 6 regional policy instruments for regional strategic acceleration of innovation PV will be developed as examples.

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