Solar farms (SFs) have been vigorously developed to address climate and environmental challenges in recent decades. However, long-term impacts of SF on vegetation and the underlying mechanism remain poorly understood. In this study, we conduct spatial (Impact versus Control zones) and temporal (pre- versus post- development of utility-scale SF) comparisons of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to investigate vegetation variations in three ground-mounted utility-scale SF (with an average installed capacity of 8263 MW) in northwest China. Results indicate SF impacts on vegetation within an extent of around 1 km. Both spatial and temporal comparisons reveal positive SF impacts on vegetation, with higher NDVI in Impact (0.098) than Control zones (0.076) as well as during post- (0.113) than pre-SF development (0.087). Further quantification based on random forest shows generally equivalent contribution of climatic factors and SF construction on vegetation greening (48.4% and 51.6% respectively). These findings underscore substantial influence of SF on vegetation in non-humid conditions, and raise an urgent need to further explore its potential eco-environmental implications on a broader scale.

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