Photovoltaics in peatlands
Combining climate protection and the energy transition
It is often assumed that integrating ground-mounted PV systems into peatland areas leads to land-use conflicts – but both can also create new synergies. Peatland PV can provide incentives for rewetting degraded peat soils and contribute significantly to climate protection.
Peatlands: Climate protectors and climate threats
Intact peatlands are the most effective carbon stores among terrestrial ecosystems. They can store twice as much CO₂ as all the world’s forests combined. In the permanently wet environment of peatlands, plant material decays incompletely due to a lack of oxygen, forming peat and locking the carbon it contains into the soil over the long term.
Endangered ecosystems with enormous climate impact
Globally, peatlands cover an area of 488 million hectares – around 3.8 percent of the Earth’s surface – and store about 600,000 megatonnes of carbon. Yet every year, approximately 500,000 hectares of intact peatlands are destroyed.
Main Causes of Peatland Destruction:
- Peat extraction
- Drainage for agricultural use
- Afforestation
When peatlands are drained, the previously stored carbon comes into contact with oxygen. As a result, it oxidizes and is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO₂). Drained peat soils emit more than 1.9 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalents per year globally – about 4 percent of global human-made greenhouse gas emissions. Almost 90 percent of these emissions are from CO₂, while the rest comes from methane and nitrous oxide, which are over 300 times more damaging to the climate than CO₂.
In Europe, about half of all peatlands are considered degraded. Europe is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases from peatland degradation after Indonesia, ahead of Russia, which has the largest peatland areas in the world. In Germany, peatlands cover 5 percent of the total land area but account for almost 7 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Rewetting as a key climate strategy
The good news is that drained peatlands can be restored. Experts have long pointed out that reducing net emissions to zero by 2050 is only possible with the immediate rewetting of almost all drained peatlands. By rewetting, peatlands can be returned to their natural state, halting CO₂ emissions and resuming carbon storage. Thanks to this property, peatlands can play a key role in mitigating climate change. Every centimetre by which the water level rises benefits climate protection.
Climate protection needs economic incentives
Peatland areas are often privately owned and primarily used for agriculture. Rewetting usually ends this use – and results in loss of income. This is where peatland photovoltaics comes in:
- Alternative income for farmers
- Climate protection through CO₂ storage
- Renewable energy generation
- Dual land use
- Promotion of biodiversity
Combining peatland rewetting and photovoltaics represents an innovative approach that serves both climate protection and the energy transition. Peatland PV offers dual-use potential and can also be combined with paludiculture (the wet cultivation of peatlands, e.g. for reed farming). New synergies arise, reducing land-use competition and making restoration more attractive for landowners.
Germany supports peatland PV
Germany aims to become climate neutral by 2045. To achieve this, forests and peatlands must act as natural carbon sinks — as anchored in the Federal Climate Protection Act. By 2030, these ecosystems are expected to sequester 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually and thus slow down climate change. Since early 2023, Germany has supported peatland PV through the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Only degraded, agriculturally used peatlands may be utilised for this; intact, ecologically valuable, or protected peatlands remain off-limits.
Installing ground-mounted systems on peatlands is technically challenging and costly, requiring special mounting systems for wet sites. It is essential that structures and installations do not impair the peat body’s hydrological properties. Shading must not hinder vegetation growth on the surface, as only a closed vegetation cover can protect the peat layer from further degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, the expected climate benefits could outweigh these efforts.
A concept with global potential
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, in collaboration with the Universities of Greifswald and Hohenheim and the Thünen Institute, has launched a research project to advance peatland photovoltaics. The core objective is to explore how installing photovoltaic systems can incentivize farmers to rewet peat soils.
If peatland PV proves to be a viable concept in Germany, it could be applied in other regions worldwide. Peatland destruction is also an urgent issue in southern Africa, India, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. While there are currently few practical international examples, interest is growing – particularly for dual-use approaches combining climate protection and renewable energy. The concept is still in its infancy but offers significant potential to cut human-made emissions and make a substantial contribution to global climate protection. Such ecological ground-mounted PV systems open the door to reconciling climate action, farming livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation.
Doris Höflich, Market Intelligence Senior Expert
Sources:
- Fraunhofer ISE
- Nabu
- Erneuerbare Energien
- Energy Transition
- Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas
