A solar farm became a safe nursery for 38 gazelles

Thirty-eight Arabian sand gazelles are now living inside a 250-megawatt solar farm near Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, where the panels double as a predator-free nursery for a vulnerable native species. Only about 3,000 of the small ungulates survive in the wild across the Arabian Peninsula and Turkiye. The plant powers Amaala, a fully renewable tourist resort, and sits within a 24,500-square-mile nature reserve. Wildlife-proof fencing surrounds 1,200 acres of panels, letting the gazelles feed and breed without predators. The shade helps too, running 8 to 18 degrees cooler than the open desert. Mountain gazelles and Arabian hares joined them last October, and males were added in May once it was clear the animals had settled in. The goal is to grow the herd past 500 and release them into the reserve. Director Andrew Zaloumis has a name for the method. He calls it ReWildingVoltaics. Branding is hardly the point.