A new biodiversity rulebook for major solar projects

By Stuart Spiers | 19-8-26

For years, the conversation around solar development has understandably focused on one big question: how much clean energy can we generate? But increasingly, another question is sitting alongside it. What else can the land deliver?

From 2 November 2026, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) will become mandatory for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England, bringing some of the country’s largest infrastructure developments under new biodiversity requirements. For the energy sector, that includes major projects progressing through the Development Consent Order process.

And for solar, it reinforces something we believe the industry should already be thinking about: a successful project can be about far more than megawatts.

What is changing?

Under the new requirements, qualifying NSIPs will need to demonstrate a Biodiversity Net Gain of at least 10%. Put simply, development must leave biodiversity in a measurably better state than it was beforehand. But the requirement isn’t simply about compensating for habitat that has been affected.

The government’s framework follows what is known as the mitigation hierarchy. Developers should first seek to avoid significant harm to biodiversity. Where that isn’t possible, they should mitigate the impact, with compensation used as a last resort.

Biodiversity value will be calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric, creating a measurable baseline against which the proposed improvements can be assessed.

That means biodiversity becomes something that must be properly considered, calculated, delivered and evidenced as part of major infrastructure development.

Why does this matter for solar?

Solar farms occupy land for decades, and what happens on that land during those decades matters. Unlike many forms of development, solar does not necessarily mean covering every available metre of a site with hard infrastructure. There is space between and around panels. There are field margins, boundaries, hedgerows and other areas within sites that can form part of a wider approach to habitat creation and management.

That creates an opportunity.

With thoughtful design and long-term management, renewable energy generation can sit alongside measures intended to support the natural environment.

The conversation therefore becomes bigger than simply asking:

How much electricity can this site generate? We can also ask, what could this site become?

Biodiversity needs to start at the beginning

Perhaps the most important part of the new framework is the principle behind it.

Biodiversity shouldn’t be something considered once the important decisions about a development have already been made. The mitigation hierarchy puts avoiding harm first.

That encourages environmental considerations to become part of site design and decision-making from the outset, rather than something added at the end of the process.

For large solar developments, that can mean thinking carefully about existing habitats, site layouts, landscaping and long-term land management alongside the infrastructure required to generate and export renewable electricity.

And that is where some of the most interesting opportunities lie.

Solar has more than one job to do

The UK needs considerably more renewable energy infrastructure. But increasing the amount we build also increases the responsibility to build it well. Communities will quite reasonably ask what large-scale infrastructure means for the landscapes and environments around them. Planning authorities and policymakers are placing greater emphasis on nature recovery. Developers are being asked to demonstrate environmental outcomes rather than simply good intentions. BNG gives those outcomes a measurable framework. It also challenges the idea that renewable energy and biodiversity somehow sit on opposite sides of the table.

They shouldn’t. The transition to cleaner energy is ultimately about creating a more sustainable future. Protecting and improving the natural environment belongs in that same conversation.

More than megawatts

At SGU, we’ve talked before about the role solar sites can play beyond electricity generation.

It was also why biodiversity and pollinators formed such a big part of our presence at Solar & Storage Live. Our Save the Bees campaign might have had a playful exterior, but there was a serious point underneath it. The land supporting our future energy system matters too.

The introduction of mandatory BNG for nationally significant infrastructure makes that principle increasingly tangible. Of course, regulation alone won’t create great projects.

Good outcomes will still depend on careful planning, sensible design, collaboration, implementation and long-term management. But the direction of travel is important.

As Britain builds the infrastructure required for a cleaner energy system, success shouldn’t only be counted in panels installed or megawatts generated.

There is an opportunity to leave something else behind too. More energy. More habitat. More consideration for the landscapes in which we build.

That feels like a pretty good definition of progress.

Because we care.

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