Sustainability
Biodiversity monitoring results with positive impact
Elena Sato
Chief Technology Officer
Independent ecological surveys conducted across seven Quantrex project sites have confirmed measurable improvements in biodiversity compared to pre development baselines. Pollinator diversity up 34% at Solara Plains. Fish populations stable at all three hydropower sites. Seabird monitoring at Nordvik Array shows no measurable impact on breeding populations.
Quantrex has published the results of its 2025 annual biodiversity monitoring program. Independent ecological surveys conducted across seven operational project sites confirm that the company's biodiversity commitments are delivering measurable real world outcomes.
Solara Plains diversity
At Solara Plains in Spain independent surveyors recorded a 34% increase in pollinator species diversity across the project footprint compared to the pre development baseline. The result is attributed to the wildflower strip planting and pollinator habitat program established across the full site boundary at commissioning.
Bee species richness increased by 28%. Butterfly species richness increased by 41%. The agrivoltaic design of the site which maintains sheep grazing beneath the panels appears to be contributing to habitat heterogeneity that benefits a wide range of invertebrate species.
Cairngorm Ridge
At Cairngorm Ridge in Scotland moorland vegetation surveys conducted beneath and between the turbines recorded the beginning of recovery from decades of overgrazing. Heather cover increased by 18% across the turbine corridor compared to the pre project baseline. Curlew and lapwing populations which were the primary ornithological concern during the planning process have remained stable throughout the first three years of operation.
The three hydropower sites
The three hydropower sites in the portfolio present the most complex biodiversity picture. At Glomma North in Norway annual fish surveys confirm that Atlantic salmon and sea trout passage through the fish pass is operating as designed with population counts consistent with pre project levels. At Columbia Ridge in the United States independent monitoring has recorded no measurable impact on salmon and steelhead populations since commissioning. At Riverbend Hydro in Brazil aquatic biodiversity monitoring in the river downstream of the facility shows species richness consistent with pre project surveys.
At Nordvik Array offshore seabird monitoring conducted using radar and visual observation found no measurable impact on the breeding populations of the key indicator species monitored at the site including northern gannet common guillemot and razorbill. The monitoring program which has now run for four consecutive breeding seasons provides the most robust dataset on seabird interaction with offshore wind in the Quantrex portfolio.
Ecological management
Sofia Hartmann Chief Sustainability Officer said the results validate an approach to ecological management that Quantrex has been building for ten years. Biodiversity protection is not a constraint on renewable energy development. It is a design challenge.
These results show that when you take that challenge seriously and invest in the science you get outcomes that benefit both the project and the natural systems it operates within. We are committed to net positive biodiversity impact from 2030 and these results give us confidence that we are on track to deliver it.
The full biodiversity monitoring report is available in the sustainability section of the Quantrex website.
