Scientists stocked a virtual North Sea solar farm with mussels, then kept making the farm bigger until the math revealed a problem: every extra panel left less food on the table for each shellfish

Offshore solar facilities are growing larger, but they could negatively impact marine life.

With installation space becoming more limited in densely populated nations, developers are turning to offshore clean energy generation.

Floating photovoltaics is becoming a popular technology across several regions, including the Netherlands.

While reservoirs and lakes are often targeted for deployment, concerns about the effects on natural water bodies have been expressed.

Now, researchers want to increase its capacity, but the installations can unexpectedly alter local ecosystems.

Will establishing ecological carrying capacity limits help conserve vulnerable marine wildlife?

How Dutch coastal regions require innovative clean energy generation

Coastal regions worldwide are rapidly expanding, some even beyond recognition.

A slow-paced, healthy lifestyle with a great selection of recreational activities and vast job opportunities is a key reason.

In the Netherlands, many of these regions are in proximity to major city centers.

They also feature a vibrant beach culture and extensive natural beauty.

As these coastal sites become more industrialized to host a growing population, energy demands increase significantly.

This leads to major competition for viable land.

Available space must be carefully balanced with infrastructure, housing, agriculture, and conservation.

This limits the growth of renewable energy capacity desperately needed for rising demands and strict climate goals.

To overcome these spatial barriers, the open ocean became an increasingly attractive alternative space.

While many prioritize offshore wind power, floating solar power installations are quickly gaining traction across several regions.

But as the technology’s footprint grows, so do concerns about potential environmental impacts.

Floating solar holds immense power potential

Worldwide, installing floating solar panels in coastal and water-rich regions offers unique benefits.

While reservoirs and lakes are often targeted for deployment, concerns about the effects on natural water bodies have been expressed.

To avoid potential local pushback, developers began expanding these platforms over the open sea.

Marine deployment offers the same benefits, including water-based cooling that boosts solar efficiency.

For the Netherlands, the technology has become a strategic resource.

The nation aims to produce 70% clean electricity by 2030, and zero-carbon power by 2050.

Growing floating solar’s footprint over the ocean is thus key to achieving these ambitious targets.

The Dutch North Sea is set to host more projects in the near future.

However, before developers can expand capacity, they must evaluate the impacts on the marine environment.

Researchers created a virtual North Sea solar farm, added mussels, and gradually increased its size.

A potential problem was revealed.

Virtual marine life interaction observations

Floating solar infrastructure can attract different forms of marine life.

To understand the true ecological consequences of these installations, researchers created an innovative system.

The advanced hydrodynamic and bioenergetic computer model simulated blue mussels colonizing the offshore platforms in the North Sea.

This helped track the interaction of shellfish with floating energy over time.

Biological factors were measured, including:

• Food consumption patterns
• Individual mussel growth rates
• Organic waste deposition
• Chlorophyll-a uptake

Floating solar presence alters local nutrient distribution

A direct correlation between farm size and ecosystem health was revealed.

Small-scale arrays had minimal impact, and mussels were thriving.

However, scaling up to a quarter of a square mile disrupted natural water currents.

Phytoplankton levels underneath the arrays dropped significantly.

Each additional panel left less food for each shellfish.

Near the center of the installations, mussels had stunted growth due to intense food competition.

The findings from the virtual North Sea solar farm study change the technology’s future outlook.

Boosting offshore photovoltaic facilities remains key to increasing clean energy generation in densely populated nations.

However, as they expand across regions like the Netherlands, strict carrying capacity limits must be incorporated.

Expansion must space out arrays, include multi-use marine space planning, and monitor food-web complications. Ultimately, responsible planning, deployment, and management are crucial to protecting fragile wildlife.

The study findings can be reviewed using APA CITE: Nalmpanti, M., Dinandra, T., Maar, M., Larsen, J., & Vlaswinkel, B. (2025). Offshore solar farms as habitats for Mytilus edulis: A preliminary modelling study on mussel growth, distribution, chlorophyll-a uptake and bio-deposition in the North Sea. Marine Environmental Research, 107372.