Sheep Thrive In Solar Project That Opponents Tried To Kill

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A 485-megawatt solar project in Virginia is running smoothing today while playing host to a flock of sheep, creating new opportunities for local farmers while pumping out clean kilowatts. The project almost died under an assault linked to fossil industry stakeholders, but persistence paid off. Take that, haters.

New Solar Project Sparks Fossil Fuel Fire

The solar project, called the Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center, comes under the wing of the global energy firm AES. The project took shape back in 2017 as a proposal with leading customers already lined up for offtake including Apply, Etsy, Microsoft, and the University of Richmond.

As may be expected, some local residents raised objections to the array. The story blew up wben Fox News profiled several residents who lived near or adjacent to the project in an article posted on February 15, 2019 under the headline “Massive East Coast solar project generates fury from neighbors.”

That was just the tip of the oppositional iceberg. On February 26, the renewables-friendly organization Energy and Policy posted an article under the byline of Dave Anderson that traced the trail of conservative lobbying and media organizations, involved in the dust-up.

Anderson cited “hit pieces” spreading misinformation about the proposed solar project published by The Heartland Institute, Institute for Energy Research, Media Research Center, Climate Depot (a project of Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow), Daily Caller, and American Spectator among others.

Anderson also named-checked Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and the conservative organizations Taxpayer Protection Alliance and Heritage Foundation among those providing source material for the web page of a local opposition group, Concerned Citizens of Spotsylvania.

Haters Going To Hate On Proposed Solar Project

Anderson also reported that persons with ties to anti-solar organizations came from outside the community to testify against the project at public hearings. That includes Alexandria resident Arthur “Randy” G. Randol III, an affiliate of the climate skeptic organization Engineers for Energy and Environment who was also the EVP of environmental and government affairs for the Texas oil and gas firm Green Century Resources at the time of the hearing. Randol previously worked for the coal company Peabody Energy and ExxonMobil.

At least two policy advisors for Heartland Institute testified at public hearings on the solar project including Fairfax resident Ken Haapala, who is affiliated with the climate skeptic group Science and Environmental Policy Project.

In addition to Anderson’s reporting, Kelsey Brugger of E&E News also noted that local opponents of the AES project received assistance from the influential anti-solar organizer Susan Ralston, a resident of Culpeper with a long resume in conservative political circles.

Sheep Welcome At New Solar Project

Ralston went on to form the 501 (c) 4 organization Citizens for Responsible Solar, which is credited with advising local residents against solar projects in other states. While some of those efforts have succeeded, the Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center went on to start construction in August of 2019 and began operating in September of 2020.

Earlier this week reporter Scott Shenk recapped the action at the solar project for the news organization Free Lance-Star. Though Shenk did not use the specific term “agrivoltaic,” the Spotsylvania array now falls into the category of agrivoltaics, an emerging agricultural science that leverages rural solar projects to enhance growing conditions for grazing lands, pollinator habitats, and shade-tolerant food crops (see more agrivoltaic background here).

In addition to providing farmers with a new source of income on their own land, the agrivoltaic trend has begun to merge with the community solar movement, providing local residents and business owners with new economic opportunities.

Shenk observed that element at work during a tour of the Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center, when he described how the array is now home to a large flock of sheep.

“It turns out that the use of sheep also has spawned some local business opportunities,” Shenk reported, noting that relationship between three local sheep farmers and the solar project is a two-way street. The solar panels provide a lush environment for grazing lands as well as shade for the sheep on hot days, and the sheep serve as zero-emission mowers that keep vegetation from impinging on the solar panels.

The sheep are rotated from one area to another, which prevents over-grazing while maximizing the benefits to soil health.

Agrivoltaic Fans Bite Back

CleanTechnica has been spilling plenty of ink on agrivoltaics, but Shenk teased out a new twist that hasn’t surfaced on our radar yet. He noted that use of the solar project for grazing has freed up land on the farmers’ property for other uses.

Shenk doesn’t specify which other uses. If you have any ideas about that, drop us a note in the comment thread. The main idea, though, is that solar arrays can expand the amount of land available to local farmers.

Sheep are the preferred livestock for solar projects because they don’t rut or jump like pigs and goats, and they are smaller than horses and cattle. The Spotsylvania project is reportedly looking at the idea of providing other livestock farmers with access to a buffer zone of property around the array as well.

Meanwhile, the case for new food crop opportunities is also growing. A few years ago CleanTechnica caught wind of a US Department of Agriculture project aimed at encouraging solar developers to make their land available for lease to new farmers at low cost, and the idea seems to have caught on.

In August, the Sahan Journal in Minnesota published an article about one such project under the byline of Andrew Hazzard, who profiled a farm-in-a-solar project created by twin brothers Stephen and Simon Nyairo, who grew up on a farm in Kenya.

“The Nyairo brothers farm 21-foot wide strips of land in a community solar garden developed and run by U.S. Solar, a Minneapolis firm,” Hazzard reported, picking up on both the community solar and the new farmer angle.”The company partnered with The Food Group, a nonprofit that runs Big River Farms in Marine on St. Croix, where emerging farmers from around the world like Nyairo grow organic produce.”

“Land access is a huge barrier for emerging farmers,” Hazzard notes, explaining that The Food Group charges a nominal fee of $1.00 per year for leasing land at the solar project.

Meanwhile, farmland conservation organizations and farmers are among the stakeholders teaming up to beat back the opposition and push more solar projects through the pipeline, so stay tuned for more on that.

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Photo (screenshot): A massive solar project in Virginia serves double duty as a sheep farm, after surviving firestorm of opposition fueled by misinformation (courtesy of AES via YouTube).