Two Minnesota solar farms planted native grasses and wildflowers beneath their panels. Five years later, flowering plant species had increased sevenfold, native bee numbers more than 20 fold and total insect numbers had tripled, while more bees were also visiting nearby soybean fields.

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/two-minnesota-solar-farms-turned-the-ground-beneath-their-panels-into-habitat-and-native-bee-abundance-rose-more-than-20-fold/36680/

[u/MrEHam]

Solar panels above canals also reduces water evaporation.

One major upgrade I’d like to see is shade covering solar panels above sidewalks and bike paths, especially in the warm south or rainy areas.

It will encourage more people to walk or ride bikes and the benefits are huge. Less fossil fuels used, less money spent on gas and car expenses, more exercise, lower traffic for the remaining drivers, and the clean energy generation.

[u/Cunninghams_right → u/MrEHam]

Eh, it's typically more expensive than just building a longer lasting regular canopy and building a solar farm separately. 

[u/MrEHam → u/Cunninghams_right]

Double the land use is less expensive?

[u/Cunninghams_right → u/MrEHam]

Yes, land in good solar producing areas is actually pretty cheap. To install a canopy over a sidewalk in a city is on the order of a million dollars a mile. But for that one mile, you have a difficult time installing infrastructure because it's a long narrow path, they'll be trees that shade it, and buildings that shade it. So your actual solar production will be quite low. Mile long solar cover canopy is around 1 acre worth of total coverage. Just the cost of the extra transformers and inverters needed to take the power from the very long strip it cost more than an acre of land, let alone the higher maintenance cost and lesser production