Our energy helps bees around the world

Bees play a vital role in the life of our planet: they are responsible for around 70% of the pollination of all plant species and their activities help ensure around 35% of global food production. For some years now, however, bee populations and those of all melliferous insects have been in decline, making it even more important to protect them. Here at Enel Green Power, we do just that in many of our plants across the world through projects designed to safeguard their natural habit and create shared value with local beekeepers and farmers. The Aurora solar farm in the USA was the first to adopt a model that brings together clean energy generation with environmental and pollinator protection. We have worked with beekeepers there to help bee populations and to promote the productivity of the surrounding agricultural land. We then joined forces with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the InSPIRE project to study the most favorable habitats for insects and pollinators. Bare Honey, a local food company, stepped in at that point to make use of the optimal conditions at Aurora to produce an organic honey so good that a local brewery used it to make a special “solar honey”-flavored beer. We have also engaged in a slew of activities in Europe designed to protect bees in particular and pollinating insects in general. At the Las Corchas plant at Carmona in Spain, for example, we not only grow aromatic plants that attract bees, we have also launched an innovative “solar apiary” that made headlines in local newspapers. We talked about it in greater detail here. This involves placing beehives between the solar panels – but these are no ordinary hives: they are equipped with sensors so that we can check remotely whether they are open or closed, and so constantly monitor the temperature and humidity levels inside them. But the tech used in these next-generation hives doesn’t end there: they are also equipped with hive cams to keep watch on the bees’ activities and the amount of honey they are producing in addition to GPS to identify their position and avoid possible theft. Las Corchas isn’t the only Spanish photovoltaic farm where we have launched such projects. In Totana, Augusto and Valdecaballeros, we are working with medicinal and aromatic herbs, coriander, lavender and flowers to attract many different pollinating species (bees, bumblebees, butterflies and other types of insects). We are doing the same in Greece too, at the Pezouliotika photovoltaic plant. Then there is Kafireas, our photovoltaic farm on the Greek island of Evia, where we have integrated activities designed to support local beekeeping into our reforestation plan for the centuries-old Kastanologgos chestnut forest by using only bee-friendly plants. This project is making us even prouder than ever right now, because the kissouri honey produced in the area is currently on its way to being awarded PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) certification. Lastly, in two of our thermoelectric stations in Italy that are currently being decommissioned, we are beginning several major experimental projects. At Bastardo, in the province of Perugia, we will be testing forage grasses, cucurbits and aromatic plant mixes to attract pollinator species as well as installing 4.0 beehives similar to those used at Las Corchas, so that the hives can be monitored using smartphones, which will allow us to get information in real time about the health of the bees, the temperature and humidity levels inside the hives, their GPS location, and whether or not they have a queen. In Montalto di Castro in the Viterbio area, on the other hand, we will be carrying out cultivation trials on mint and legumes with high honey-producing potential, and asparagus and saffron, to allow us not just to integrate bee colonies but also to sustainably farm the area’s traditional Leprino rabbits.

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Our energy helps bees around the world

Our energy helps bees around the world

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