Rebecca Hernandez, assistant professor of ecology at the University of California, Davis, looks through a fence at the Wildflower Solar Farm in Rio Linda, Calif. As solar projects spread across the United States, the sites where solar panels are installed offer a way to combat climate change while also helping to solve the environmental crisis of habitat loss, especially for flowering plants. Wildflower supports Sacramento County’s renewable energy and carbon reduction goals. The farm’s solar panels are capable of producing enough clean, affordable energy to cover the annual electricity needs of 2,624 Northern California homes.
The project also supports a community solar program to meet growing consumer demand for clean energy and local solar. The farm is capable of generating clean electricity that eliminates 21,850 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to taking 4,640 cars off the road. The project has many social and environmental benefits for California. In addition to improving air quality by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation, a sheep grazing system was introduced on the solar farm’s land in 2024, where a local California sheep farmer feeds his flock, while helping to maintain vegetation through natural means.
That helps bring new revenue into his business through paid grazing contracts, as well as the proceeds from meat and wool production. (Photo courtesy of The New York Times)
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