By Tayler Butters
Going solar isn’t just a great way for farms to achieve energy independence it can also enhance production, provide soil benefits, and diversify farm income thanks to a practice called agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics is the intersection of solar energy and agriculture, including anything from vegetable production to pollinator habitats to animal grazing.
Agrivoltaics, sometimes referred to as agri-solar, AgriPV, or dual-use solar, most often works by installing ground-mounted panels on crop or grazing land. The panels are raised high enough to allow for animals (such as sheep) to graze, or when sharing land with crops are spread far enough apart for equipment like tractors to fit through. Simply put, agrivoltaics allows agriculture and solar panels to share the same land, and, as a result, the same sunlight. The cohabitation of the panels and livestock or crops can be an ideal situation for farmers as it creates agricultural benefits and provides a second stream of income.
“Developers have an opportunity to support farmers in their host communities and honor legacy agriculture at the same time,” said Indiana Rural Associate Abby Burnett “Every solar project on farmland should ensure that rural communities aren’t left behind, and agrivoltaics is a tool to make that a reality.”
With an estimated 80,000 sheep grazing 100,000 acres of solar farms in America, sheep are the most common livestock to share land with solar. Since the panels are raised high enough to allow sheep to graze beneath them, farmers are not sacrificing land when going solar. In fact, they are providing shade for livestock, which can protect them on particularly hot days and even reduce their water consumption as a result. Providing livestock space to graze can even mitigate the cost of labor, fuel, and damages associated with mowing. While sheep are the standard for solar-grazing, other livestock such as cattle can graze with certain modifications made to the panels, such as raising them higher.
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