I have often heard anti-solar energy voices talk about solar installations taking farm land out of production in an attempt to create a food vs green energy conflict. Forward thinking farmers have tried mixing solar with agriculture and, happy surprise, the two go together like peanut butter and chocolate.
Farmers are trying out mixing agriculture with solar panels and the results are awesome. Sheep, like those shown above, love the nice shady spots to rest between grass grazing. The land owners love it because they don’t have to mow around the solar panels. The solar energy companies love it because it opens up huge amounts of land to potential solar production. Here are two short videos about mixing grazers and solar.
What about vegetable and fruit crops? Here is another video showing how using solar panels to protect delicate crops from sun, wind, and rain can help boost production.
What about row crops? Here is a trial system in Germany that looks very interesting (turn on CC and set to auto-translate to English). We are accustomed to seeing wide open fields of crops and thinking that must be the best way. Much research has been showing that smaller fields with protection against wind can help protect plants from damage (lodging) and drying (water stress) and rows of solar panels do a great job as a wind break. Mixing the two systems does reduce the production of each to some degree but having diversity in the field can pay huge dividends to the farmer like natural crop insurance.
These videos are just the beginning of the programs going forward all over the world. Just search with “agrovoltaics” and lots of information and videos pop out from farmers, researchers, and government organizations. This really opens up a new era in solar. If farmers see an economic benefit from adding solar then installing large tracts of panels will become very easy — and that means a faster energy transition. I don’t really like the term “game changer” but this qualifies. Good news everyone!
Edit: The spelling might be “Agrivoltaics” instead of “Agrovoltaics” depending on how this portmanteau is spliced. I’m not sure which one I like better — what do you think?
