Publication – AgriSolar Clearinghouse

Fact Sheet: Making the Case for Crops + Solar

By Stacie Peterson, PhD, NCAT and
Heidi Kolbeck-Urlacher, Center for Rural Affiars
March 2024

Agrisolar practices, also called agrivoltaics, are the co-location of agriculture and solar within the landscape. They include solar co-located with crops, grazing, beekeeping, pollinator habitat, aquaculture, and farm or dairy processing. Agrisolar practices offer an opportunity to allow solar and agriculture to co-exist while meeting demands for clean energy and resilient rural infrastructure. One agrisolar approach is crop production under and adjacent to solar photovoltaics. Farms and research sites across the country demonstrate agrisolar as an opportunity to diversify farm revenue, decrease crop irrigation, increase crop yield, increase soil moisture, improve solar panel efficiency, and increase rural energy independence (Barron-Gafford, 2019; MacKnick, 2022; and Adeh, 2019).

Extreme heat and weather events from climate change, including the long-term drought in the American west, have led to water shortages, decreased crop yields, and increased heat stress for farm workers. Climate projections show this trend continuing, resulting in a marked decrease in crop yield in the future (Hsiagn, 2017). At the same time, an increasing population has elevated the need for nutritious local foods and food sovereignty.

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March 5, 2024

Fact Sheet, Publication

Fact Sheet: Financial Considerations for Developing an Agrivoltaic System

By Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center
at Jack’s Solar Garden

Compared to conventional solar energy developments, agrivoltaic systems may have different capital expenditures, cash flows, and risk impacts for a solar asset owner. Discussed herein are only broad, qualitative financial impacts, as there are too many agrivoltaic applications (e.g., over orchards, grasslands, croplands, livestock), solar designs (e.g., fixed-tilt, tracking, one or two panels in portrait), and local considerations (e.g., terrain, regulations, wildlife, agricultural markets) to share a concise financial impact assessment.

Financial impacts are labeled as either standard or potential considerations. Standard considerations are those that apply to agrivoltaic developments that can support diverse agricultural activities in addition to compatibility with small-scale machinery and agricultural laborers. Potential considerations are those that would apply only in specific circumstances.

This fact sheet focuses on new-build projects considering US federal and Colorado state-specific tax benefits, though most non-tax topics are more broadly applicable.

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February 8, 2024

Policy, Publication

AgriSolar Policy Guide

Written for the AgriSolar Clearinghouse by Alexis Pascaris (Agrisolar Consulting) and Allison Jackson (Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center)

The Agrisolar Policy Guide was designed to facilitate policy learning and innovation in the United States. By collating existing initiatives and key provisions, this guide serves as a resource for regulators, land use planners, decision makers, and others who are interested in state-of-the-art agrisolar policy. The AgriSolar Clearinghouse is impartial towards policy; the intention of this guide is not to advocate for certain initiatives, but to provide a central platform for education and engagement. The goal of this guide is to support policy innovation for better co-location.

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May 17, 2023

Publication

Agrisolar Ownership: A Guide for Farmers, Ranchers, Communities, and Landowners to Co-locate Agricultural Production and Solar Generation

This guide serves as an introduction to the solar industry, relative to agrisolar development in the United States, community programs, and solar ownership or lease opportunities for homes, farms, and ranches. It covers ownership options for small-scale, single-user solar installations, community solar installations that distribute power throughout a community, and utility-scale installations that sell power to the utility, as well as common utility-scale land-lease components for landowners looking to allow a developer to construct and operate a solar installation on a portion of their land.

Agrisolar Policy Guide

The AgriSolar Policy Guide was designed to facilitate policy learning and innovation in the United States. The intention of this guide is not to advocate for certain initiatives, but to provide a central platform for education and engagement and to support policy innovation for better co-location.

Policy Approaches for Dual-Use and Agrisolar Practices

Written for the AgriSolar Clearinghouse by Heidi Kolbeck-Urlacher, Center for Rural Affairs

This report provides decision makers and others an overview of policy approaches to combining solar with agriculture and offers considerations on how regulations can facilitate dual-use.

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April 12, 2023