# Environmental Protection in the Planning of Large Solar Power Plants
## 5 Discussion and Conclusions
When it comes to the impact on biodiversity, it refers to the change in conditions at the location of the solar power plant, and therefore to the habitats and species that directly or indirectly depend on these habitats. In order to insure the preventive protection of biodiversity (habitats, flora, and fauna) in the area of the future solar power plant, it is necessary to optimally micro-locate solar panels based on detailed continuous observations of biodiversity that are part of the planning and SEA process. Interesting research by a group of scientists was published in the study \"Solar parks can improve bird diversity in an agricultural landscape\" [56]. Research has shown that solar power plants can play a positive role in promoting biodiversity, especially in birds, in the agricultural landscapes of central Europe, as they offer food availability and nesting sites. Thirty-two solar farm plots and thirty-two adjacent control plots were analyzed in Slovakia during one breeding season. During the research, 353 individuals from 41 species were observed in the solar power plants and 271 individuals from 40 species in the control plots. According to the researchers, the species richness, diversity, and number of invertebrate-eating species were higher in the solar power plants than in the control plots. Among the reasons cited by the research team is the availability of food for insectivorous birds, as solar panels attract different types of water-seeking aquatic insects. Given the low food availability in winter, it can be assumed that solar power plants may have a positive impact on birds in agricultural land outside the nesting season, as they can serve as stopover, feeding, and roosting sites during migration and wintering, because the ground under solar panels is often snow-free in winter. It was also observed that certain species of birds nested in the support structures of solar panels made of pipes, or in uncultivated or extensive vegetation under the solar panels or next to the fence. The study emphasized that the solar power plants used in the research were designed solely for electricity production, and that the benefits for biodiversity would be even greater if they were managed synergistically with a stronger focus on biodiversity. When it comes to the impact of solar power plants on the landscape, their influence exists, but is smaller compared to energy facilities based on the use of fossil fuels (such as thermal power plants, surface mines, tailings, etc.). However, even in the case of an impact on the landscape, we come to the importance of the appropriate site selection through the process of planning and preparing the SEA. Today, the literature [57] points to the transformation of the landscape during the implementation of solar power plants and suggests addressing the issue through a combined spatial layout of the solar power plant and the landscape in the so-called solar landscape. Solar landscapes aim to achieve additional benefits (e.g., visibility reduction, habitat creation) alongside electricity production. There is an emphasis on the need to find new compromises between landscape characteristics and different types of solar landscapes. Some studies [58] highlight the importance of the social aspect in assessing the impact of the solar power plant on the landscape. Specifically, with the increase in the number of solar power plants in South Korea over the past decade, more than half of the country's district governments have adopted restrictions for solar power plants. These restrictions are quite restrictive, as they reduce the available land for the solar power plant placement, reducing the contribution to decarbonization. The research implies that the development of solar power plants at the national level may face obstacles from local communities if there is no rational and even spatial distribution of development projects in the field of solar energy.