From Ecological Vision to Innovation Technology Passing Throw the Ecosystem Services: A Conceptual Model to Plan Ground Photovoltaic System as Green Infrastructure for Water Regulating and Habitat Services

Abstract

This paper presents a project of a photovoltaic system built in synergy with freshwater and supply water ecosystem services. The focus is to reconnect business success with social and ecological progress based on the operative concept of multifunctional land use. Such an approach attempts to harmonize the needs of industrial processes of photovoltaic systems and the ecological and social needs of the landscape context. Specifically, different from the usual design of photovoltaic panels in farmlands or brownfields, a new pattern of the photovoltaic system is proposed such a combination of photovoltaic panels and wetlands. The proposed project has, among others, the major functions of increasing solar energy production, recycling wastewater, creating raw material for biofuel or other applications and providing animal habitat and mitigating air temperature. In this way, ecosystem services can be interpreted as supporting technology services to improve the efficiency of energy factories. This novel design open to a new vision of environmental aspects that should not be treated only as potential impacts of human activity or mitigation strategies, but as an active part of the design.