Empowering Farms, Ranches, and Rural Communities: The Promise of Agrivoltaics

Within the race to fulfill renewable power objectives as demand rises throughout america, farm and ranch land is more and more turning into a goal for photo voltaic improvement. In accordance with the American Farmland Belief’s (AFT) Farms Underneath Risk: 2040 evaluation, there may be potential that 83% of photo voltaic constructed by 2040 might be sited on farmland inside america.¹

With out intervention, this landscape-scale change may have main impacts on the way forward for farming and meals safety within the U.S.

The rising area of agrivoltaics – the intentional mixture of photo voltaic power technology and agricultural manufacturing on the identical space of farmland – affords a promising answer that would assist farmers and ranchers construct long-term farm viability, scale back lack of farmland, and contribute to scrub, inexpensive power produced domestically in america.

As this can be a advanced and quickly evolving area, there are presently a wide range of definitions of agrivoltaics which are launched or underneath improvement. To make sure advantages for farmers and long-term agricultural viability, AFT defines agrivoltaics as a “ground-mounted photovoltaic photo voltaic power system that:

AFT’s definition emphasizes the significance of sustaining the “ag” in agrivoltaics, requiring that the photo voltaic venture is designed and operated to allow the manufacturing of a number of agricultural merchandise all through the lifespan of the venture. This farmer-centered strategy ensures that the land underneath the photo voltaic array is actively used for agriculture, serving to to mitigate the lack of farmland.

One notable good thing about agrivoltaics is that it offers farmers and ranchers with a diversified earnings, contributing to better farm viability. Landowners can depend on regular earnings from lease funds, along with advertising and marketing agricultural merchandise (crops and livestock) grown or raised beneath the photo voltaic array.

Moreover, entry to farmland has been a problem for tenant farmers, and agrivoltaics may create extra alternatives for them to safe inexpensive land to develop their companies.

A key issue driving the expansion of agrivoltaics is vegetation administration by photo voltaic grazing. Historically, diesel-powered mowers are used to take care of vegetation underneath an array. Using sheep not solely serves as an alternative choice to mechanical strategies for managing vegetation but additionally offers extra grazing land, builds soil well being, and will be less expensive for asset homeowners.

Each new and skilled graziers can provide their providers to builders, serving to to extend the U.S. sheep stock.³

The shade supplied by photo voltaic arrays affords shelter to sheep, cattle, and different livestock, defending them from warmth and varied climate circumstances. For crops, photo voltaic panels also can present useful shade, which helps scale back a plant’s response to drought and warmth stress whereas minimizing evaporation underneath the panels. This results in improved soil moisture and lessens the necessity for irrigation.⁴

In consequence, farmers can handle water extra effectively, conserving assets and minimizing the danger of nutrient runoff and leaching beneath the array.⁵ Moreover, there may be ongoing analysis to evaluate how photo voltaic panels and design sorts have an effect on the expansion of various crop varieties and crop yields.

Nonetheless, there are some concerns and challenges in pursuing an agrivoltaics venture each by the developer and the farmer/rancher. Floor-mounted dual-use programs have extra prices related to each the structural modifications wanted to accommodate farming and grazing in addition to the extra prices for design and collaboration with stakeholders.

The Nationwide Renewable Power Lab estimates that agrivoltaics programs have a premium of $0.07/Watt to $0.80/Watt compared to standard ground-mounted programs.⁶ This may be costly for each the farmer and developer.

Tomatoes rising underneath the array on the Rutgers Agricultural Analysis and Extension Middle. © American Farmland Belief

Regardless of the potential advantages, profitable implementation and widespread adoption of agrivoltaics would require funding mechanisms and insurance policies that incentivize builders and help farmers.

Some states have already taken this initiative and developed packages and grants to assist fund particular person initiatives, present property tax exemptions, create standardized siting and allowing for photo voltaic initiatives, and create compensation charge adders for dual-use initiatives.

Different states are simply beginning the method by creating statewide definitions for agrivoltaics, hopefully to construct off of sooner or later.

Main states within the agrivoltaics motion embrace Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, amongst others. Colorado state legislature handed Senate Invoice 23-092 in 2023 to applicable $500,000 for agrivoltaics grants for use to “conduct a brand new or ongoing demonstration or analysis venture as a method to review the potential, advantages, and tradeoffs of agrivoltaics within the state”.⁷

This funding was renewed once more for a similar quantity in 2024, after which for $300,000 in 2025. American Farmland Belief was among the many recipients in
2024 and helped produce a information entitled “Funding Alternatives for Agrivoltaics in Colorado: A Information for Producers, Landowners, and Service Suppliers” to assist these pursuing agrivoltaics in Colorado.⁸

Along with the grant program, Colorado has created a private property tax exemption for equipment and tools utilized in agrivoltaics to supply an agricultural product.⁹ This additionally consists of the photo voltaic array tools and equipment, benefiting each the farmer and the developer of a venture.

Moreover, the code signifies that agricultural land will keep its standing as such when paired with a qualifying agrivoltaics array in
property tax assessments. Maryland has an analogous tax regulation offering a private property tax exemption associated to agrivoltaics.¹⁰ Each of those tax exemptions may result in decrease property tax charges for builders or landowners.

Taking a special strategy to incentives, Massachusetts was one of many first states to incentivize agrivoltaics by creating the Photo voltaic Massachusetts Renewable Goal (SMART) Program. It features a feed-in tariff which offers a premium worth for surplus power bought again to the grid for Agricultural Photo voltaic Tariff Technology Items (ASTGUs) established in 2018.

The state’s purpose for the ASTGUs, or agrivoltaics programs that adjust to the SMART program, is to generate 80 MW AC capability for the state. Qualifying ASTGUs can obtain an extra $0.06 per kWh adder along with the bottom compensation charge set forth by this system.¹¹

A number of builders have taken benefit of this chance with extra initiatives for the state within the pipeline.

Understanding that the preliminary improvement price of initiatives will be inhibitive, each New Jersey and New York developed funding packages for initiatives. New Jersey’s stems from the Twin-Use Photo voltaic Power Act of 2021 that created a 3-year pilot program at Rutgers College that may “lay the groundwork for a everlasting
Twin-Use program.”

This system will create incentives particularly for dual-use photo voltaic using their preexisting mechanism of Photo voltaic Renewable Power Certificates IIs (SREC-IIs), which supplies extra worth to the power produced by the system.¹² This could lead to the next bonus reward for collaborating in agrivoltaics. Final 12 months, New York created a $5 million aggressive solicitation by the New York State Power Analysis and Growth Authority (NYSERDA) to fund initiatives as much as $750,000 that “[integrate] each new or retrofitted photo voltaic and farm operations similar to these with cattle grazing, forage, or specialty crop manufacturing.”¹³

This solicitation was in collaboration with the New York Division of Agriculture and Markets with ongoing efforts to gather knowledge on initiatives funded to tell different agrivoltaics initiatives within the state.

These are simply a number of the present, main state-level actions in agrivoltaics. State-level motion might be extra vital than ever to propel the sector of agrivoltaics ahead by coverage and state-funded actions in mild of the uncertainty surrounding federal funding.

These states will hopefully set an instance for others to observe go well with and acknowledge that agrivoltaics is a future price incentivizing.

The way forward for agrivoltaics requires funding in considerate coverage, collaborative analysis, and strategic partnerships that prioritize agricultural manufacturing and renewable power.

Designing programs in coordination with farmers and ranchers, providing clear monetary incentives, and replicating efficient state-led packages on a nationwide scale might be essential for widespread adoption. By pursuing this strategy, agrivoltaics can develop into the answer to strengthen rural economies, shield farmland, and assist energy the nation sustainably.

In regards to the Writer
Catie Discipline, Good Photo voltaic Program Coordinator, helps American Farmland Belief’s Good Photo voltaic Program and its work nationally selling farm viability, safeguarding soils and farmland, and uplifting agrivoltaics. She has an M.S. in Agricultural Science with a give attention to animal science and livestock programs.

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