Agrivoltaics Garden Tour

This past October, NCEL’s Climate and Energy Coordinator, Sidra Aghababian, had the opportunity to visit and tour Jack’s Solar Garden, a national model for agrivoltaics. Located in Colorado, Jack’s Solar Garden has 3,276 solar panels creating a 1.2 MW community solar garden, which is enough to power over 300 homes. Not only is Jack’s Solar Garden a community solar garden, but it showcases clean energy generation coupled with local food production to educate and inspire community members to take action to improve land stewardship within solar arrays. Also, through partnerships with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado State University, and the University of Arizona, Jack’s Solar Garden is providing the opportunity for valuable research regarding agrivoltaics.

What is Agrivoltaics?

Agrivoltaics, the pairing of solar panels (photovoltaics) with agriculture, is quickly becoming a strategy for states to meet their climate and energy goals. Agricultural land used for growing crops, animal grazing, and farmsteads/farm roads accounts for about 43% of the total land in the lower 48 states. With agrivoltaics, this land can serve a dual-use purpose of growing crops and housing solar for valuable energy production. 

Jack’s Solar Garden offers an excellent example of how agrivoltaics can be successfully implemented. The farm cultivates a diverse range of crops, such as potatoes, herbs, berries, peppers, and corn, while working closely with researchers to study the effects of growing under solar panels. By testing various crops, they are identifying which thrive best in this environment. During the tour, it was highlighted that the placement of solar panels can provide key benefits for crops, such as offering shade and even increasing precipitation in certain configurations, making agrivoltaics a promising model for sustainable farming.

Why Agrivoltaics?

Agrivoltaics can be used for pollinator planting, grazing, and crop production. By utilizing land for agrivoltaic systems, there is the potential to increase farm productivity by 35-73%. There are a variety of benefits to agrivoltaics such as water conservation, higher crop yields, increased habitat, improved soil, crop protection, and economic opportunity. Across the U.S. there are 589 agrivoltaics sites, creating 10,082 megawatts of energy. 

Agrivoltaics can create a win-win scenario by offering a unique opportunity to address multiple state priorities simultaneously, including clean energy generation, sustainable agriculture, economic growth, and climate resilience. 

Policy Options

(‘**’ indicates bipartisan support)

•  **Colorado S.B.092 (enacted 2023): Supports agrivoltaics through the integration of solar energy generation facilities with agricultural activities and authorizes grants for new or ongoing demonstration or research projects that demonstrate or study the use of agrivoltaics.
• **New York S.7861A (enacted 2023): Directs the Department of Agriculture and Markets to produce and distribute guidance and educational materials for farmers on the use of agrivoltaics in farming.
• Washington S.B. 5187 (enacted 2023): Requires a cost-benefit analysis be conducted for the use of agrivoltaic and green roof systems on projected new buildings.
• Maryland H.B.1039 (enacted 2022): Exempts certain community solar energy generating systems from personal property taxes and assessed and qualified land that is used for farm or agricultural purposes to have agrivoltaics.
• Massachusetts H.5060 (enacted 2022): Establishes a commission to investigate and make recommendations to remove barriers to developing agrivoltaic projects.

Resources

• Agrivoltaics Fact Sheet | NCEL
• Agrivoltaics 101 | Agrivoltaics Learning Center
• About Jack’s Solar Garden | Jack’s Solar Garden