Pollinator-Friendly Solar Certification
Getting Started:
Step 1. Contact a vegetation management company
The role of the vegetation management company in this certification process is to provide the necessary technical assistance when designing, planting, and maintaining high-quality pollinator habitat that is compatible with a ground-based solar array installation. The vegetation management companies listed on this site have the experience and capability of installing and managing large-scale pollinator plantings.
Step 2. Write an Establishment Plan
Once you’ve partnered with a vegetation management company, the next step is for the vegetation management company to write the Establishment Plan. The Establishment Plan will document the site preparation, seed mix content, and management strategies used to maintain high-quality pollinator habitat within your solar array. Once the Establishment Plan has been completed, it should be submitted to us (online submission is in progress).
Step 3. Establish pollinator habitat following an establishment plan.
Work with professional habitat management companies to have your sites established and managed as pollinator-friendly habitat on the installation.
Step 4. Seasonal Assessments.
In the year after the pollinator-friendly habitat has been installed, Seasonal Assessments (link) will take place. These assessments will be completed three times per year (once per season) in the Spring, Summer, and Fall by the vegetation management company. Each Seasonal Assessment should submitted electronically after it has been completed. To obtain and/or maintain a Pollinator-Friendly Certification level, all three Seasonal Assessments need to be submitted each year.
The establishment plans and annual monitoring will be evaluated by staff at the University of Wisconsin. Sites will be awarded ratings (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) and posted on our web site.
Step 5. Submit your information for certification.
Once you have done your annual assessments, submit your scorecards for evaluation and to have your site added to the growing list of Wisconsin solar projects that are certified as pollinator-friendly installations.
Fees:
These small costs help provide the resources necessary to maintain this independent certification program functioning. As you being the process of submitting information for certification, you will establish a user account and payment mechanisms will be provided.
One-time set-up fee per project (can including multiple sites): $500
Annual maintenance cost (per solar array location): $100