As agrivoltaics gain traction across the United States, research on barriers and opportunities for co-locating agriculture with solar is expanding. The SCAPES solar research project, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study how to efficiently co-locate photovoltaic and agricultural systems in various biogeographical regions. As part […]
Agricultural Land Usually Remains in Agriculture After Solar and Wind Development “As [agrisolar] development has expanded, some communities have raised concerns about the local effects of solar and wind projects. USDA, Economic Research Service researchers recently studied how solar and wind development affects land cover near wind turbines and solar farms. Researchers examined the […]
Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD., Agroecologist, Borderlands Restoration Network When most Americans think of crop production, they tend to imagine crops growing in full sunlight to achieve their full potential for productivity. But over decades,there has always been crop production in shade habitats or constructed environments, as well. Indeed, much of the coffee and chocolate (cocoa) consumed […]
The primary objective of this study is to develop a small aquavoltaic system and evaluate key parameters, including dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, water temperature and dead zones in an open raceway pond to improve the conditions for the production of microalgae while generating electricity.
Agrivoltaic systems emerge as a promising solution to the ongoing conflict between allocating agricultural land for food production and establishing solar parks. This field experiment, conducted during the spring and summer seasons of 2023, aims to showcase barley production in a vertical agrivoltaic system compared to open-field reference conditions at Kärrbo Prästgård, near Västerås, Sweden.
By Rob Davis, Connexus Energy “Growing Farmers, Growing Foods” is the mission at Minnesota-based Big River Farms, a program of 501(c)3 nonprofit The Food Group. They recently won the North American Agrivoltaics Award for Best Solar Farm in 2024. Big River Farms teaches farmers to farm organically, sustainably, and regeneratively while also enhancing the level […]
Leroy J. Walston, Heidi Hartmann, Laura Fox, Michael Ricketts, Ben Campbell, and Indraneel Bhandari, Argonne National Laboratory This section highlights several types of agrivoltaic options related to ecosystem services that include siting considerations, ecological impacts of dual-use sites, construction methods and habitat restoration strategies. One type focuses on ecologically focused siting, construction, and vegetation management […]
American Solar Grazing Association 1. Introduction to Solar Grazing Solar grazing is a relatively new and growing industry that uses livestock—most commonly sheep—to graze solar sites as a form of vegetation management. Within these systems, graziers form a contract with site owners to be compensated a fee for grazing to promote a shared purpose of […]
MNL is an organization with a mission to “Heal the Earth,” through ecological restoration and native species landscaping. As the organization progressed, they established projects on solar sites, including conservation grazing and prioritizing native seeds and plants that provide pollinator benefits. Jake Janski, who’s been with MNL for over 20 years, is one of the […]
In 2012, Caleb Scott was working with solar developers to help seed and build sites. As he got more involved in the industry, his job expanded to help properly maintain these sites. Scott began mowing the solar sites but quickly realized it was a challenging task. Every site was different, with varying degrees of ground […]
