Grab your lunch and join the Chesapeake Stormwater Network on Thursday, March 19th at noon (EST), for our latest webinar – Assessing and Managing Stormwater Impacts of Solar Installations in Virginia and Central Pennsylvania.
This webinar will highlight 2 research projects that focus on potential stormwater impacts of large-scale solar installations in Virginia and central Pennsylvania.
Ryan Stewart presents:
Utility‑scale solar facilities are being constructed throughout Virginia, yet significant uncertainty remains about the volume and timing of stormwater they produce. It is also unclear whether key design parameters for stormwater detention features—such as curve numbers (CNs) and times of concentration—are being applied appropriately. With support from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), we launched a six‑year study in 2023 to measure and evaluate stormwater generation from utility‑scale solar installations across the state. This presentation shares preliminary findings from the first 1–2 years of monitoring, focusing on three representative solar sites in Virginia.
Lauren McPhillips presents:
Major ground solar panel installations, called ‘solar farms,’ are rapidly growing. There is potential for impacts on natural hydrologic processes, and a need to understand implications for design of appropriate management practices. We conducted field research on solar farms in central Pennsylvania that represent the complex terrain in our region (e.g., high slopes). Soil moisture data indicates redistribution of water relative to panels, with elevated soil moisture at the dripline, and drier soil under the panel. Soil moisture data indicate periods of saturation and runoff generation near panel driplines, but very limited saturation in the interspace between panel rows, indicating infiltration of runoff. Data from an infiltration basin and trench document the ability to adequately retain and infiltrate runoff. This hydrologic data has been used to calibrate models of solar farm hydrology, which help understand runoff changes from pre- to post-solar farm-development. This research collectively indicates that well-vegetated open space between panel rows plays a critical role in managing runoff. In some cases, structural stormwater management is necessary on solar farms, in order to prevent adverse impacts on runoff. Continued development of best practices will ensure that solar farms are developed with maximum benefit.
Speaker Bios:
Lauren McPhillips:
Dr. Lauren McPhillips is an Associate Professor co-appointed in the departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Agricultural & Biological Engineering at Penn State University. Her work broadly focuses on hydrology, soils, and biogeochemistry in human-dominated ecosystems, with a particular interest in ecological engineering solutions. While she does quite a bit of work on stormwater management and nature-based solutions in urban and suburban environments, she started getting interested in this newer type of land development- solar farms- around 5 years ago.
Ryan Stewart:
Ryan Stewart is an associate professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on understanding and quantifying the movement of water,
gases, nutrients, and contaminants in various landscapes, with a primary focus on agroecosystems and other drastically disturbed lands. He works to better characterize physicochemical properties of soils and quantify how those properties influence hydrological processes such as infiltration and runoff. His teaching program covers topics related to pollution science, hydrology, and soil properties. He obtained his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Water Resources Engineering from Oregon State University.
***This webinar is FREE, but registration is required. Click this link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0rV2Uy8aQrC7QoBVH4g3Ig
CSN webinars are certified by the Maryland Board for Professional Engineers as meeting Continual Professional Competency (CPC) requirements. For more information on this webinar, and how to obtain a certificate of attendance please see the CSN website:
