The More Farmers Know About Agrivoltaics, the More They Like It

Until just a few years ago, utility-scale solar arrays were considered incompatible with farming. The situation is different today. Solar developers are learning how to design projects that enable farmers to continue working the land between solar panels. The idea is catching on quickly among farmers, too. Now the big question is whether or not the combination of solar panels with agriculture, called agrivoltaics, can scale up and become a significant force in the energy transition.  

The agrivoltaic solution

Farmland offers multiple benefits to utility-scale solar developers, with utility-scale referring to large arrays of 10 megawatts or more. Farms consist of vast stretches of tree-less, sun-soaked terrain largely uncomplicated by habitat and biodiversity conservation issues. On their part, farmers were, and still are, attracted by the steady income from solar leases.

To reduce hardware costs, developers typically place solar panels close to the ground, which requires measures to keep vegetation from covering the panels. Some developers reseed the ground with low-lying plants like clover to reduce the cost of mowing and trimming. Others use sand or gravel to reduce or prevent undergrowth, in effect rendering the land permanently unsuitable for crops.

Reuters reporters P.J. Huffstutter and Christopher Walljasper described the destructive impact of using sand as a ground treatment on a farm in Indiana. They underscored the damage done by a ground treatment strategy focused solely on cutting costs.

The Indiana solar project was built in 2019, at a time when researchers were just beginning to assemble the agrivoltaic case. Since then, solar developers have begun to work with, not against, food systems and land conservation. An agrivoltaic array typically deploys taller racks to raise the solar panels higher off the ground, allowing farm activities to carry on.

Combining solar arrays with native plants and pollinator habitats for crop support or grasslands for grazing livestock are two of the earliest agrivoltaic practices to gain widespread currency. They still remain the most common examples, but researchers and farmers are beginning to experiment with human food crops that tolerate some degree of shade.

How to accelerate the agrivoltaics revolution

Although agrivoltaics is a relatively new science, word is spreading fast, raising the potential for rapid scale-up if certain hurdles can be overcome. 

Information is one of the key missing pieces. A new survey from the Solar and Storage Industries Institute found that 30 percent of farmers were opposed to large scale solar development on farmland. But it also found that these same farmers were less likely to know about agrivoltaic solutions. That opens up the possibility for outreach and education to change minds.

The survey assessed that the overwhelming majority of farmers are already informed about agrivoltaics, finding that up to 70 percent of farmers approve of utility-scale solar arrays if they are based on agrivoltaic principles, which often reduce their concerns around farmland and solar development.

“The research shows most farmers are interested in exploring solar, provided that they have enough information to make good business decisions and continue farming,” David Gahl, executive director of the institute, said in a statement.

Meeting farmers where they're at

Improving access to information about agrivoltaics is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The survey identified another barrier in the form of race-based differences in farmer attitudes. The survey showed that farmers of color were less likely to approve of utility-scale solar projects. These same farmers were also less likely to be informed about agrivoltaic solutions, compared to their white counterparts.

“This finding suggests a need for a wide variety of trusted voices to help disseminate agrivoltaics information to communities,” according to the report.

The institute, which is the nonprofit educational branch of the trade organization Solar Energy Industries Association, notes that at least 30 percent of farmers surveyed trust the information they get from farm associations, extension services, universities and solar developers. That indicates that a more race-sensitive outreach campaign will encourage farmers of color to support agrivoltaic development. 

Agrivoltaics, brand reputation and the bottom line

As the survey indicates, trusted solar developers can help strengthen the outreach and information network to enlist more farmers in support of utility-scale projects. But that depends on reaching a critical mass of developers experienced with agrivoltaics, and there is still a wide gap to fill. Most of the 600 or so agrivoltaic projects under way in the U.S. are relatively small, with less than 10 percent described as “large-scale,” according to the institute. 

In consideration of the rising opposition to rural solar projects, the brand reputation factor could motivate more solar developers to avoid harmful, solar-exclusive development strategies and instead adopt agrivoltaic solutions, according to the institute.

“While developers are interested in pursuing farmland solar projects because they can be easy to develop in many respects, they are interested in pursuing agrivoltaic system designs because it preserves farmland and enhances the reputation of their company within the community,” according to the report.

The bottom line benefits to farmers are also emerging, as measured by land use efficiency. In Europe, where agrivoltiaic development is catching on more rapidly, researchers are already assembling evidence that the balance of crop yields with solar energy production is significantly more efficient when combined in one field.

Help is on the way

In the United States, additional support for the agrivoltaic movement is already in motion. The  survey, for example, is the first step of a two-part program supported by the the U.S. Department of Energy in partnership with the Solar and Storage Industries Institute, the National Farmers Union, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The second phase will explore case studies.

As another indication of support, the conservation organization American Farmland Trust identified agrivoltaics as a pathway for protecting farmland from urban sprawl and other permanently destructive development.

Also contributing to the case for agrivoltaics is a new land use tool developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin. The research team produced a first-of-its-kind map that identifies almost 30 million acres of previously cultivated land that has been abandoned since the 1980s.

There are still many knowledge gaps left to fill, but a new paradigm in the U.S. and global agriculture industry is taking shape, in which farmers and solar developers collaborate on clean energy and farmland conservation, too.