Background: An increasing share of agricultural land is converted to be used for the construction of ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems. This area is lost for agricultural production, but these systems may allow for synergies with biodiversity by providing an area for extensive grassland and spontaneous vegetation. A substantial share of the solar industry has obliged itself to comply with a “biodiversity-friendly” standard, which makes certain provisions to promote biodiversity in the PV area. The objective of this thesis is to assess to what degree these standards have been complied with and to what degree they could become a standard in official renewable energy regulations.

Skills needed: Sound knowledge in spatial analysis using ArcGIS/QGIS/R; Medium German language skills (since many relevant documents are only published in German)