New projects are underway that, if proved successful, could greatly expand the areas considered viable for solar power.
Until recently, it wasn't considered possible to have a solar array on farmland where crops are grown. Solar arrays on farmland were relegated to grazing land or pollinator habitats, but, according to CleanTechnica, things are quickly changing.
The revolutionary new belief that crops and agrivoltaic arrays can live in harmony is in no small part thanks to the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program. The program provides funding for hundreds of projects, including a $713,000 grant for Talbott Farms, a peach farm in western Colorado, as reported by CleanTechnica.
Those funds will go toward building a one-acre, 420-kilowatt agrivoltaic array on a peach orchard and will power the farm's entire peach packing and processing operation, according to the Daily Sentinel (via CleanTechnica). That's significant for a family farm.
The solar panels will be raised off the ground to allow farm equipment to perform normal functions, and the panels will shift position to allow the peach trees to get the sunlight they need.
"These investments will cut energy costs for family farms and other businesses, increasing their resiliency and allowing them to invest back into their communities by creating new jobs and other opportunities," the USDA stated, per CleanTechnica.
A similar project is underway at Iowa State University. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, ISU researchers will raise fruits and vegetables, along with bees and a pollinator habitat, on a 10-acre solar farm.
"As renewable energy grows, it's important to find opportunities for these projects to benefit people, beyond just providing renewable electricity," said Anne Kimber, director of ISU's Electric Power Research Center. "There's good work to be done on this front, and we hope this research and demonstration will help identify the potential for communities to benefit from agrivoltaics."
There are hundreds of millions of acres of cropland in the U.S., much of which would be viable for agrivoltaic arrays. This could greatly reduce reliance on the power grid and the dirty energy used to power much of it while saving farms money by essentially creating their own power.
However, the benefits of agrivoltaic farms have the potential to extend well beyond the farms themselves. If done on a large scale, they could provide clean energy for entire communities.
That would not only contribute to cleaner air for residents to breathe, cutting back on planet-warming pollution that contributes to extreme weather events and threatens the global food supply, but it should also lead to lower electric bills. Private solar installations and community solar programs are both proven ways to save significant money over time.
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