If The White House Won’t Save US Farmers, Agrivoltaics Will

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One of the few bright spots for US farmers this year is the emerging agrivoltaic movement, in which in specialized solar arrays share space with agriculture. This dual-use strategy offers the potential to raise more profit from the same land. In order to scale up, though, the movement needs to offer farmers hard evidence that the profit will materialize, and New York State just launched a new program to do just that.

$7 Million For New Agrivoltaic Projects In New York State

The US solar industry provides New York with an economical opportunity to generate more power in-state, but there’s a catch. Conventional solar power plants take up space that could otherwise be used for farming. That is at odds with goals of farmland conservationists in New York. The state currently hosts more than 33,000 farms spread over 7 million acres, accounting for about 20% of the land in New York.

Agrivoltaic solar arrays offer a beneficial compromise. They are intentionally designed to complement various farming activities between the panels. Shade from the panels can also help build up soil health in marginal land, restoring it to agriculture. In terms of farmer income, the goal is to enable farmers to profit more from solar and farming on the same land instead of choosing one over the other.

Agrivoltaics began emerging as a science during the Obama administration, with an initial focus on grazing livestock and establishing pollinator habitats. More recently, researchers in the dual-use field have turned attention to growing crops for human consumption (see more dual-use background here).

A number of advanced dual-use projects are already under way around the US, including some that intersect with urban farming and the community solar movement. However, scaling up to widespread adoption is a challenge. Advocates need to assemble more evidence that agrivoltaics can deliver on its promise of economic reward, and that’s where New York’s new $7 million initiative comes in.

If all goes according to plan, the new program will have a ripple effect on agrivoltaic uptake across the Northeast. It is administrated by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority with funding from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-invest consortium of 11 states including Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont, as well as New York.

Different Solutions For Different Regions

About $2 million of the program has been divvied up among four individual projects in different parts of New York, with the aim of showcasing solutions suitable to different regions:

1. Rotating cattle grazing with corn crops among rows of elevated solar panels will be featured as part of a a 1,200-1,500-kilowatt solar array on 14 acres at the the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology in Schoharie County. Enough space will be allowed in between the rows of panels for conventional harvesting equipment to pass through.

2. A 300-kilowatt solar array will be integrated with a microgrid that supports a grain processing operation at K&MH Martens Farms in Yates County. Aside from clean power for the system, the solar panels are expected to provide healthful shade cover for grazing cattle. Shade from the panels will also help build up soil quality and extend the growing season for cool-season grasses.

3. Hay production is one element a 3,200 kilowatt solar power project in Orange County. The project, which will be developed by the firm Lightstar Renewables, also includes 1-2 acres of vegetable crops.

4. Retrofitting existing solar arrays for agrivoltaics is another feature of the program. The firm United Agrivoltaics has been tasked with introducing pigs, poultry, and specialty crops to a suite of existing community solar projects located in Cortland, Schuyler, Tompkins, and Niagara counties. Collectively, the solar projects have a capacity of 15,850 kilowatts.

The Payoff For Long Term Agrivoltaic Research

The four individual projects are expected to yield measurable, short term results. To move the agrivoltaic market at scale, the program also earmarks for $5 million for long term research projects under the umbrella of CALS (the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), to be located at sites in the Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes regions.

In the hamlet of Highland, CALS will install a solar array of about 300 kilowatts on 2 acres of an exiting high-density apple orchard. “Specialized sensors and controls will enable solar panel manipulation for sun and shading preferences and for crop protection from frost and hail weather events,” NYSERDA explains.

“Electricity produced will be used to power research lab operations and surplus power will be supplied to the local electric grid,” the agency adds.

CALS will also install a 900-kilowatt solar power plant on about seven acres at Cornell’s campus in the town of Ithaca. “Plantings within the solar array will include traditional annual vegetable, field and perennial forage crops,” NYSERDA notes.

“Designed to mimic conditions in a variety of solar array configurations, the system will enable research across a range of disciplines including plant genetics, soil health, and water management strategies associated with agrivoltaics,” NYSERDA explains.

Aside from all that, electricity from the solar panels will be shunted directly to the electric grid at the Cornell campus.

In another project covered by the $5 million in funding, a Cornell research farm located in the city of Geneva will be evaluated for agrivoltaic applications.

Next Steps For The Agrivoltaic Movement

Neighboring New Jersey has also launched a dual-use pilot project, with the aim of establishing up to 200 megawatts of agrivoltaic solar arrays over three years. As with New York, the program is also a rigorous academic effort, building on research from Rutgers University.

If all goes according to plan, more farmers will be able to keep themselves afloat economically, and more farms will be saved from bankruptcy, real estate development, or both.

That’s a big “if” under the current state of inflation, trade wars, labor shortages, and climate impacts. US President Donald Trump has not made things any easier. Under his direction, Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have shredded federal programs that help farmers cut their energy costs with solar and other renewables.

In particular, Rollins has excoriated the idea of putting solar panels on farmland, while blithely ignoring the real estate sprawl swallowing up one farm after another.

“Our prime farmland should not be wasted and replaced with green new deal subsidized solar panels. It has been disheartening to see our beautiful farmland displaced by solar projects, especially in rural areas that have strong agricultural heritage,” Rollins stated during a press conference in August.

If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread. Better yet, find your representatives in Congress and let them know what you think.

Photo (cropped): Agrivoltaic solar arrays provide space for grazing, crops, and other farming activities between rows of solar panels, helping to preserve farmland from real estate development (by Werner Slocum / National Renewable Energy Laboratory).