Conceptualizing and assessing the effects of installation and operation of photovoltaic power plants on major hydrologic budget constituents Vassilios Pisinaras a , Yang Wei b , Lars Bärring b , Alexandra Gemitzi a, ⁎ a Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece b Rossby Centre, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 60176 Norrköping, Sweden HIGHLIGHTS • Photovoltaic power plants effects on major hydrologic budget constituents are identified, conceptualized and sim- ulated with SWAT model. • Spatially, the effects are analyzed in ba- sin and local (sub-basin) scale. • The long-term effects of land use change from agricultural to photovolta- ic power plants were investigated by applying downscaled climate projection data from a Regional Climate Model driven by 5 different General Circula- tion Models. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 18 March 2014 Received in revised form 28 May 2014 Accepted 28 May 2014 Available online xxxx Editor: D. Barcelo Keywords: Climate change SWAT model Land use change Hydrology Photovoltaic parks This study addresses the effects of land use change from agricultural to photovoltaic parks (PVPs) on the hydrol- ogy of an area. Although many environmental effects have been identified and analyzed, only minor attention has been given to the hydrologic effects of the installation and operation of PVPs. The effects of current PVP installa- tion and operation practices on major hydrologic budget constituents (surface runoff, evapotranspiration and percolation) were identified, conceptualized, quantified and simulated using SWAT model. Vosvozis river basin located in north Greece was selected as a test site. Additionally, long-term effects were simulated using dynam- ically downscaled climate projections by a Regional Climate Model (RCM) driven by 5 different General Circula- tion Models (GCMs) for the period 2011–2100. Results indicate that surface runoff and percolation potential are significantly increased at the local scale and have to be considered during PVP siting, especially when sensitive and protected ecosystems are involved. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As global greenhouse gas emissions cause an increasing concern on human community regarding climate change, alternative energy sources are substituting for the use of fossil fuel. Solar power plants are among those energy sources which are considered to be environ- mentally friendly, in terms of emission reduction of greenhouse gases Science of the Total Environment 493 (2014) 239–250 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +30 2541079371. E-mail address: agkemitz@env.duth.gr (A. Gemitzi). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.132 0048-9697/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv