Background With the proposal of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" goals, many photovoltaic power stations have been established in the northwest desert areas of China. How the establishment of photovoltaic power stations affects the ecological environment of the northwest desert areas has attracted the attention of many scholars.

Methods This study reviewed how the construction and operation periods of photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the Northwest Desert Region affected their ecological environments from the perspectives of precipitation, soil, climate, and biodiversity: Chinese and English literatures were searched from Web of Science and CNKI databases with the themes of "PV", "PV+climate", "PV+soil", and "PV+biodiversity", respectively. Literature was screened according to factors such as year of publication, number of citations, and journal of publication.

Results PV power plants indirectly affect evapotranspiration and rainfall by changing the surface albedo; mechanical crushing and filling and excavation during the construction period of PV power plants cause soil compaction and soil fertility decline, which exacerbate wind and sand activities and soil erosion within the PV power plant; the deployment of PV arrays increases the roughness of the ground surface, reduces the near-surface wind speed, and thus lowers the surface sand transport within the PV power plant; PV panels change the composition and structure of the soil bacterial and fungal communities of the grasslands; there is a "heat island effect" of PV plants in the sandy areas. PV arrays change the composition and structure of soil bacterial and fungal communities in grasslands, and significantly increase the α-diversity of soil bacteria and fungi; PV power plants in sandy areas have a "heat island effect", which increases the temperature and reduces the humidity on sunny days in the summer; and the plant species, abundance, homogeneity and dominance as well as the biomass in the PV power plants are higher than those outside the PV power plants.

Conclusions Different site types and climatic environments can lead to varying degrees of impact on the soil, vegetation, microclimate, and biodiversity of the environment in which PV power plants are located. It is of great significance to conduct in-depth research on the mutual feedback mechanism between PV power stations and their environment in the ecologically fragile areas of Northwest China, in order to reduce the adverse effects of the establishment of PV power stations on their location and maintain the stability of the local ecosystem.